It's A Little Thing Called Destiny
by den7201
Summary: It's been almost five years since Marissa had experienced the horrible accident but thankfully survived. She went off to Greece as promised to her dad and had decided to stay. After graduating from the best university there, unexpected twists of fate occu
1. Chapter 1 : What's it gonna be?

**A/N: this story already has several chapters on Microsoft Word but I'll be updating little by little (well, it mostly depends on the number of reviews ) I hope you guys like it!!**

**Summary: **Okay, so this starts off after college, Ryan graduated from Berkeley with a degree in architecture and is now working in the best companies that designs houses for celebrities and rich people, Seth graduated from RISD with a job offer from one of the best comic book companies to design for the best up-coming comic books where he works for now, Summer graduated from Brown and is now working as an editor in the number 1 fashion magazine.

Marissa didn't die in the car crash but she stayed in the hospital for a few months and recovered eventually and worked on her dad's boat as promised, it was painful for everyone to say goodbye, but she was able to keep in touch with everyone, although as time passed it became harder and harder and she eventually lost contact, she missed them so much but figured that they had moved on. After working with her dad for 1 year she decided to attend college in Greece and graduated with honors and just got a job offer from a prestigious fashion magazine in Newport which she is trying to decide whether or not to take the job.

After almost loosing Marissa, it was hard to say goodbye to her as she left for Greece without telling her how he really felt, after a few months he decided that it was time to move on. Ryan had met a lot of great girls and dated some but they were all failures, he has a good friend named Lauren who he really likes and is interested in being her potential boyfriend. After all, he had moved on…right?

Seth and Summer stayed together in college, they had their fair share of problems but they worked everything out together as a couple which made their relationship strong.

**Note: This fic will be R/M and S/S.**

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"Marissa!"

"I'm right here dad!" Marissa called out from her small room in her dad's boat. Although her room wasn't as big or as fancy as her room back in Newport she treated it like her home just like how she treated her dad's boat as her home for four years. Her and her dad had led a simple yet happy life in Greece and so far her dad's business was going great which means that they didn't have to worry about money that often anymore.

"You've got a phone call from Terri of that magazine again." Jimmy said. He was an extremely happy and proud father when he saw how much Marissa had developed and become stronger over the years. He was thrilled when she graduated and was even happier when she got the job offer from the best fashion magazine in the country. He just hoped if she did take the job she wouldn't loose contact with him since she would be moving back to Newport if she did.

"Chic?" Marissa asked.

"Yeah that one." Jimmy said still holding the phone. "You better answer it before she gets impatient with you."

"Alright." Marissa said picking up the phone in her room. She was ecstatic when she heard that she was offered to work in Chic magazine the newest and best magazine but she started to get second thoughts when she heard that it was in Newport. She couldn't possibly go back there, she would have to face the life that she used to have, the life filled with pain, suffering and nothing but a troubled life. She didn't want to feel like that anymore and she knew that going back to Newport would thrust her back to that knid of life just when she had a great life here with her dad.

"Hello?"

"Hello Ms. Cooper."

"Terri, I already told you, you can call me Marissa."

"Oh, alright Ms. Coope- I mean Marissa, I was just calling to get your answer about our offer." Terri said through the other line. Terri was the secretary and personal assistant of the editor-in-chief in Chic.

"Can I just get back to you on that? I need some time to think about it..." Marissa said.

"Umm..alright Marissa…but with all due respect, that's what you said last time and our editor-in-chief wants your answer by tonight." Terri said.

"I know, I'm sorry to keep you guys waiting but this is a really big decision for me…but I'll make sure that you'll have an answer by tonight." Marissa said biting her lip. Honestly, she didn't know if she could make a decision by then but she knew that she had to.

"Alright, thank you Marissa." Terri said. "I'll be expecting your call and hopefully we'll see you soon."

"Yeah, alright thanks Terri." Marissa said. "Bye."

"Bye." Terri said before they both hung up.

Marissa sighed as she put down the phone, she would have to make an impossible decision by tonight and she had no idea of what to do.

"Need to make the decision?" Jimmy said from her doorway.

"Have you been listening to me?" Marissa asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, sorry couldn't help it kiddo." Jimmy said. "I'm just as nervous as you are."

A momentary silence passed before Jimmy spoke again. "So, they want you to make your decision?"

"Yeah, they want my answer by tonight." Marissa said anxiously.

"Well then go for it." Jimmy said.

"Dad, I-I can't."

"Marissa, this is a huge opportunity, you can't just let it pass you by." Jimmy said sitting in one of the chairs.

"But I can't leave you or all of this." Marissa said sitting on her bed across from where Jimmy was sitting.

"Oh, I think you can, I mean we live in a boat." Jimmy said. "Far away from all the luxuries in Newport."

"And all the drama in Newport." Marissa countered.

"Newport has been your life kiddo."

"My life is here now, far away from all the gossip and drama and pain of Newport." Marissa said firmly.

"What about your mother? Your sister? Your friends? Aren't they a part of your life? Besides you promised them that you would come back." Jimmy said.

Marissa sighed, she knew that she would have to face them when she would get back, and that's what scared her the most, that they might not accept her like they used to.

"You can't just let your past affect your future kiddo." Jimmy said.

"What about you?" Marissa said looking at her dad.

"I'll be fine, besides I'm haven't exactly been the best father in the world." Jimmy hung his head low. "I mean, I-I almost lost you in that car accident and I-I never should have left you guys."

"Dad, it's not your fault, we understand why you had to do it and in the past few years you've already proven that you are the best father in the world." Marissa said.

"Thanks kiddo." Jimmy said smiling. "But I can't stand in the way of you and your career, you've gotta go after your dreams."

"But I'd be far away from you."

"That doesn't mean that we can't keep in touch and whenever you wanna visit, you know where to find me." Jimmy said.

"I don't know dad…"

"Marissa, you've become a stronger, more beautiful person, I think you can handle Orange County, besides like what I said it will always be part of your life so why let a thing like that stop you from getting in the way of you and your future career?" Jimmy said. He made his way to the telephone on Marissa's side table and handed it to her.

"It's time to make a decision."

**A/N: I hope you guys liked that and please don't forget to review! And I promise this story gets more and more interesting as it progresses.**

**den**


	2. Chapter 2 : An exciting announcement

**A/N: here's the next chapter! Okay so I decided to post the first two chapters at the same time just because I want you guys to get a better idea about this story **

Summer rushed into her office, she was way past late and she didn't want her boss to get mad at her. "_Ugh, why didn't I hear my alarm?" _she cursed herself as she entered her office, it was a big wide-spaced room that was filled with every copy of every fashion magazine, Summer was very dedicated to her job and her office reflected her loyalty. Her office was big enough for two so her secretary's desk was right across hers unlike the other secretaries who had their office outside.

"Morning, Shannon!" Summer said greeting her secretary as she dropped her bag on her desk.

"Good morning, Ms. Roberts-"

"Shannon, how many times do I have to tell you, it's Summer." She said as she was fixing her papers.

"Uhh right sorry, Summer, Ms. Anderson would like to have a word with you."

Summer's head shot up. "Melissa?" Melissa Anderson was the editor-in-chief of the magazine so she was also Summer's boss.

"I hope she's not too pissed that I came a little late this morning."

"Summer, it's half-past eleven." Shannon said pointing towards the clock above her desk.

"Oh, shit!" Summer said panicking. "Okay, I'll go over there right now and-" Summer stopped as she saw Shannon's things in boxes beside her desk.

"A-Are you leaving?" Summer asked still staring at the boxes.

"Oh, no it's, uhh…a long story, Ms. Anderson will explain it to you." Shannon said opening the door for her.

"Oh, shoot right I'm late." Summer said rushing out the door. "Thanks Shannon!"

Summer ran to her boss's office and spotted Melissa's secretary in the desk in front of her office.

"Hey Terri!" Summer greeted.

"Summer! Melissa's expecting you, she's got some big news." Terri said beaming at her. She was a very cheerful person who was good at making you feel better when you've got a bad day. "Go right in."

"Okay thanks." Summer said opening the big glass door.

"Melissa?" Summer said entering the enormous office. Melissa's office was really glamorous. It had racks of the newest clothes that would be featured in the magazine and just like Summer, she had every copy of their magazine.

"Yes, come in Summer." Melissa said. She was a tall woman in her 30's and she still looked so young. She had perfectly white skin and light brown hair and she always dressed like a celebrity. She was everyone's idol and she wasn't like every other fashion editor who had a nasty personality, she was very down-to-earth and everyone loved working with her.

"Have a seat." Melissa said as she sat on her own seat. "So you're probably wondering why I called you here."

"Does this have to do with the next issue?" Summer asked as she sat on the seat in front of Melissa's desk.

"No, actually did you notice Shannon packing her things?" Melissa asked.

"Oh my god, you're replacing her?" Summer asked , her eyes going wide. "Shannon is not just my secretary, she's like a close friend of mine already, you can't fire her." Summer pleaded.

"Summer, relax." Melissa said smiling. "We're not loosing a fellow employee, in fact we're gaining one."

"I-I'm afraid I don't understand." Summer said confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I have recruited a new editor, she's smart, talented, graduated from one a really great university and most importantly, she is just as passionate about fashion as we are." Melissa said. "She has just accepted my offer to be a Chic magazine editor and your new partner, that's why Shannon will have her desk outside your office, to make room for her."

"Oh, alright." Summer said, she started to get excited, she will have a new partner and hopefully they would come up with great ideas for the magazine. "When will she start?"

"She'll be arriving here on Thursday from Athens, so she'll start on Friday." Melissa replied. 'And as her new partner I'm counting on you to show her around."

"Yeah, of course." Summer said getting up from her seat. "Can't wait to meet her."

"Me too," Melissa said smiling of excitement. "Something tells me that this will be the start of a very successful partnership."

**A/N: please review and the next post will be up soon :D**

**den**


	3. Chapter 3 : A bittersweet goodbye

**A/N: thanks for reviewing you guys! I loved them! (and hoping to get more ) I'm really glad you guys like the story…I'm sorry I haven't been updating any of my fics…I've been out of the country for six weeks so I haven't been able to update…just got back today though so here's the next chapter:D hope you guys won't forget about this fan fic ;p Enjoy!**

Jimmy walked in Marissa's room as she was packing her things. As much as he was proud and happy for her, he also knew that he was gonna miss her a lot.

"Hey, kiddo." Jimmy knocked on her door. "Need some help?"

"Nah, it's alright." Marissa said zipping her bag. "I'm already done anyways."

"Oh, well the flight is gonna leave in 2 hours so you better get going." Jimmy said. "I called your mom, she'll be expecting you at the airport when you get there."

"Thanks, dad." Marissa said sadly. It was hard for her to leave this great life that she had just made with her father but she knew that he would want her to take the opportunity. "I'm really gonna miss you dad."

"Same here." Jimmy gave Marissa a tight hug. He didn't want her to leave him and he knew that it won't be easy living in a boat all alone; he would miss her very much but he knew that it was for the best that she would take the job. "Keep in touch okay?"

"Of course." Marissa said pulling away from their embrace. At this point, tears started falling on her face. "I promise."

"Hey," Jimmy wiped her tears with his thumb. "Whenever you need me, I'm right here okay? I'm not going anywhere, and I want you to know that you've made me the proudest father alive, it made me proud to watch you develop as a person and become the strong beautiful woman you are today."

"Thanks, dad" Marissa said. "Right back at you."

Jimmy smiled as Marissa started picking up her bags and walking out of the boat. Jimmy grabbed some of them too and helped her put her luggage in the cab waiting for her right outside the pier.

Marissa nodded and gave her dad one last embrace. "I love you, dad."

"I love you too kiddo."

They both pulled back as Marissa got in the taxi. She waved at her dad one last time as they drove off to the airport. She knew that as she said goodbye to her dad she was also saying goodbye to the life she had led here, a happy life. She somewhat knew this day would come though. She knew she had to go back to the place she knew all her life. She had to go right back where she started from.

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Summer was exhausted from work as she arrived at her house. Her house wasn't exactly a mansion but it was not too small either. She placed her key on the keyhole and started turning it so she could open the door. She entered her house and as she turned to go to her room…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Summer screamed, she saw a shadow of what looked like an alien with a funny shaped head and it was holding some sort of laser gun.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" it screamed back, Summer turned the lights on to see who it really was.

"TAYLOR!!!" Summer found that it was just her roommate with rolling pins all over her head, had a green face mask all over her face, and was wearing her bathrobe and her "laser gun" turned out to be a hairdryer.

. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop surprising me and stop using my bathrobe!" Summer said. She and Taylor had become really close over the years and since they were both starting out with their careers they decided to share an apartment so they would have to pay less for taxes each.

"I know but your bathrobe is just so much better than mine." Taylor whined. "And it's not my fault that you came home when I'm busy fixing myself up."

"I always come home at this hour, and just because it was given by a sponsor in our magazine doesn't mean that you can use it anytime you want!" Summer said. "And why do you have that ridiculous face mask on?"

"You like it?" Taylor said. "It's a new recipe."

"Eeew!" Summer squealed. "Get that thing away from me."

"Okay, but you don't know what you're missing." Taylor said walking off to her room. "Oh, and by the way, Seth called."

"When?" Summer asked.

"Just before you came home." Taylor said from her room.

Summer picked up the phone and dialed Seth's number. It rang a couple of times before he answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey Cohen, Taylor said you called." Summer said.

"Hey, oh yeah I wanted to know if you can take Friday off, they've got this really great band playing in the Bait shop and-"

"Cohen, I can't." Summer interrupted. As much as she wanted to go out on Friday she knew that she couldn't.

"Why not?" Seth asked.

"Because my new partner would be coming in on Friday and I have to be there to show her around."

"You got a new partner?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, Melissa just told me." Summer said. "I'm really excited actually; I mean who knows we could even become good friends."

"I'm glad you feel that way, what's her name?" Seth asked.

"I-I dunno." Summer said. "I guess I forgot to ask, but I'm gonna find out anyways…so yeah as much as I want to I can't go."

"Well, I guess I could just ask Ryan and Lauren if they're up for it." Seth said.

"Ryan and Lauren?" Summer asked. "Are they like an item now?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure they're gonna be soon." Seth said. "I guess it's a good thing, I mean at least he can do something other than moping around about, well you know who."

"Right." It had been a while since they actually talked about Marissa, they all missed her terribly and they always wondered where she could be right now, but they had lost contact with her about two years ago. Summer wondered if she would ever come back. "Listen, I gotta go and stop Taylor from melting her face with that icky face mask she has on."

"Okay, I don't think I'd wanna know." Seth said.

"Believe me you don't." Summer said laughing.

"So I'll call you tomorrow?" Seth asked.

"Yeah." Summer said. "Goodnight Cohen."

"Goodnight Summer, love you." Seth cooed.

"Night, love you too." Summer smiled as she hung up the phone.

Summer sighed and made her way to Taylor's room to try to talk her out of her cheap beauty products. She was contented with her life and she knew things could only get better.

**A/N: please review! As soon as I get enough reviews I'll post the next one **

**den**


	4. Chapter 4 : New arrival, New Beginnings

**Sorry for the delay of this chapter guys, just started school a few weeks ago and so far it's been really hectic oo I've managed to post the next chapter for you guys though just made some revisions it's pretty long though so I hope that makes up for the long wait…I hope you guys like it and please review!!**

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Marissa was so nervous as they were nearing Newport, she didn't understand why she felt like the plane ride was so short when it took hours for them to get to their destination. She figured that it was because she was nervous to come back to where it all started. Her thoughts were interrupted by the pilot's voice over the loudspeaker.

_Attention please, this is your pilot speaking, we will be arriving in Orange County Airport in a few minutes. For your safety, please fasten your seatbelts when told to for landing, thank you._

Marissa looked out the window and saw way down below, there it was, the place where she thought that she would be living in for the rest of her life, the place she thought to be paradise, but she knew that deep inside she never thought that it was paradise, it was far from that, it was her nightmare.

The attendant soon told everyone to fasten their seatbelts as they approached the airport. Only a few seconds more and she would be stepping under the Californian sun that she had missed for so long.

The plane started accelerating as the pilot directed the plane to the landing station. It went faster and faster until they all felt the plane touch the ground as it rolled down on the airport. Marissa unfastened her seatbelt as she heard the attendant tell them to do so. She looked out the window and saw that nothing had changed in Newport; it was still as beautiful as it was when she left it four years ago…she had mixed emotions at this point, happiness, excitement, nervousness, fear…it was a mixture of emotions all at once. _I really did miss this place. _She thought smiling as the pilot spoke once more.

"_I would like to welcome all of you to Orange County…"_

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Julie hurried to the area outside the airport to look for her daughter. They were told that the plane from Athens was arriving soon. Julie was really excited for Marissa's return in Newport. The last time she saw her was four years ago and she wondered how she was now.

"Mom, not so fast!" Kaitlin called out; she tried to keep up with her mother who was running through a crowd of people.

Julie ignored her 19-year old daughter and rushed right to the front of the crowd. It took her a while to spot Marissa getting out of the plane.

"MARISSA!" Julie started screaming and waving for her to notice. "OH MY GOD, MARISSA!"

"Mom, stop it!" Kaitlin said feeling embarrassed. "People are staring."

Marissa spotted them and made her way to her mother and sister whom she had missed so much. She laughed slightly at her mother's excitement as she approached them.

"Hey mom!" Marissa said giving Julie a long heartfelt embrace.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you're here." Julie started tearing up as they pulled away. She hadn't seen Marissa for so long and she was finally here. "I can't believe I'm actually talking to you right now, I thought we would never see you again."

"Mom, you sound like I survived another car crash." Marissa said.

"I-I've just missed you so much." Julie said overwhelming with excitement with the arrival of her eldest daughter.

"Me too." Kaitlin said from behind Julie as she and her older sister hugged. "I mean, I know that we've had our differences and all before you went away but I'm a totally different person now and I'm guessing you are too."

"So you haven't gotten into any trouble lately?" Marissa said with her brow raised.

"Please, I haven't changed _that _much." Kaitlin replied while Julie and Marissa laughed at her comment.

"It's good to be back." Marissa said pulling away from their hug. "I missed you guys too."

"We're just glad that you're home." Julie smiled.

_Home. _Marissa thought as Julie said the word she hadn't heard for what seemed to be forever. She would definitely need to get used to calling this place her home again.

"We can't wait to hear about everything that happened in Greece." Julie said.

"Well I can't wait to hear about what is the latest gossip in Orange County." Marissa said.

"I'm sure we'll have plenty of time for that," Julie said. "But for now we have to help you bring your stuff to the house, you can stay with us while you find a place to settle in."

"Your place with Summer's dad?" Marissa asked. "The last thing I heard you tell me was that you guys got married."

Summer. It's been a while since she had talked to her. She tried to keep contact with her but as time passed she can feel herself getting more and more distant from her and from everyone. The truth is that she missed everyone terribly and she needed her best friend back. Just thinking about Summer made her remember all the important people in her life…Summer, Seth, Ryan…_Oh god, Ryan _she thought. It had been years since she talked to him and she wasn't sure if seeing him for the first time in years would be easy

"Yeah." Julie said cheerfully. "It's been great, I couldn't be happier."

"Yeah, I'm jumping for joy over here." Kaitlin said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes on her mother.

"Watch your tone young lady." Julie warned her.

"Whatever." Caitlin said. "Come on sis, we've gotta go show you around well, since you probably don't remember this place anymore.

"Yes and we'll help you unpack so you can be ready for your first day of work tomorrow." Julie said excited. "We're really proud of you sweetie, you've come this far and we couldn't be happier for you."

"Thanks you guys." Marissa said.

"But you'll give us free copies right?" Kaitlin said hopefully.

"Sure." Marissa laughed.

"Yes!" Julie and Kaitlin said in unison. Chic magazine was _the_ magazine.

"Okay let's get going then." Julie said as they walked inside the airport. "Tomorrow will be an interesting day."

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"Ryan?"

Ryan looked up from his paperwork to see who was knocking on his office door. He saw a black haired young man who was wearing a familiar Death Cab t-shirt and he knew who it was.

"Seth? What are you doing here man?" Ryan said as Seth took a seat.

"Oh, nothing really." Seth said. "Just stopping by to see what you were doing and I was hoping we could talk for a bit."

"We talked thirty minutes ago when you called." Ryan said raising his brow. "So what do you need _this_ time Seth?

"I'm insulted that you think that I just come here to ask you for something." Seth said pretending to be hurt. Ryan gave him the look that indicated that he wasn't convinced.. "Alright, alright I just wanted to see if you wanted to go to the Bait Shop today."

"The Bait Shop?" Ryan asked "I thought you were bringing Summer?"

"Yeah I was but she turned me down on the offer since she's gonna meet her new partner today."

"She has partner?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, I dunno it's a magazine thing," Seth said. "Anyways, I'm bored as hell over here, come on man."

"I can't, I have a job Seth." Ryan said.

"So do I, but I have a day off so might as well enjoy it right? Come on, you can bring Lauren if you want." Seth said raising his eyebrows.

Seth knew about Lauren and Ryan's "friendship" and he knew that there was something going on. He was actually happy for his best friend because throughout college, Ryan had been having flings and non-serious girlfriends but he hadn't been serious about anyone. Seth was worried that it might have been because of what had happened before college began. Ryan really cared about Marissa and when she was almost killed and he didn't get the chance to tell her how he felt before she left and it really hit him hard. It definitely took effect on his love life hence; he didn't have a single serious relationship throughout college.

Ryan did have a best friend though, Lauren. They've become really close even after college and Seth could feel a potential chemistry between them. He knew that Ryan was infatuated with her; she was smart, beautiful and fun to be with. They were perfect for each other. Seth always knew that Ryan had feelings for Lauren and vice-versa, but Ryan never made a move because of a certain person who was holding him back. It took hard work and a lot of talking but finally in their junior year of college, Ryan had started to accept the fact that Marissa may never come back and he had to move on with his life.

He started accepting the fact that he had feelings for Lauren and over the past few years, he developed strong feelings for her. They've gone out on a few dates but they never really made it official between them, but since they had strong feelings for each other, it would only be a matter of time.

"Nah, I don't think she'd like it." Ryan replied to Seth's question.

"Please, the girl loves music and she's gotta like eating right? And we both know that she loves spending time with you." Seth smirked at his last remark. "Speaking of which, where is she now? She seems to always be" hanging out" in your office."

"Well, she's not here now so-"

"Whatever you say man." Seth said cutting him off. "But let me just state the obvious here, you've known her for about five years, you guys have been best friends throughout college, you've had feelings for her ever since you met her and might I add the fact that she's hot which is practically Ryan Atwood's ideal girl, so what are you waiting for? You got to ask her to go steady with you sometime man."

"I-It's complicated I guess." Ryan said.

"Complicated? "Since when were things complicated with you and your love life?" Seth said sarcastically.

"Very funny Seth." Ryan said. "You're love life is not exactly less complicated either."

"Well, at least I'm not too afraid to tell someone how I feel." Seth replied. "Or are you just loosing interest in the matter"

"It's not like that okay," Ryan said. "I really like Lauren it's just that I don't know if it will work out."

"That's what you always say." Seth said. "I say that it's time you took a chance, I mean it's been too long man."

Before Ryan could say something in reply, they heard a knock on the door and directed their attention to it. The boys looked up to see who it was.

"Hey guys." A pretty girl appeared on the doorway, she had blonde hair and pretty green eyes and a smile that managed to captivate hearts. She was tall and you could tell by her looks that she was the kind of girl that guys usually chase after.

"Hey." Ryan greeted her smiling. _She was beautiful as always _Ryan thought. He really did want to make her his girlfriend but being Ryan Atwood, he always had his doubts. He knew he had to ask her, and he had to do it fast.

"Hey Lauren." Seth said getting up from his seat.

"I hope I'm not in the middle of something." Lauren said as she walked in.

"No, I was just leaving." Seth said. "I gotta go see if my boss isn't too pissed at me for taking the day off."

Seth made his way to Ryan. "Remember what I said." He whispered to him. He smirked as he gave him thumbs up behind Lauren so she couldn't see it as he left the office.

Once Seth left Lauren turned to Ryan, "Okay, what was that all about?"

"Nothing, Seth was just asking me something, you know his usual complaining." Ryan said.

"Oh," Lauren said. "So you guys weren't talking about me?"

"What? No." Ryan said. _How did she know?_ Ryan thought to himself.

"Ryan, you know you're not good in lying."

"Right." Ryan admitted.

"HA! So you were talking about me!" Lauren said triumphantly.

"Maybe, Seth was just wondering if you wanted to go to the Bait Shop today with us but I know that you're probably busy so I told him that we aren't up for it."

"Oh, well do you want me to go?" Lauren said walking closer to Ryan.

"Yeah sure, if you want to." Ryan said noticing suddenly how near she was from him. She truly was beautiful, she used to even be a model.

"Of course I would." Lauren smiled. She stared into his deep blue eyes as he stared into her green ones. They had eye contact until Lauren looked away and fidgeted with the things on his desk.

"So did anything interesting happen before I dropped by?" Lauren asked him. Ryan wasn't listening though, he was still thinking about what he and Seth had talked about earlier. He had to tell her now, he knew that this was it.

"Ryan? Are you okay?" she asked a bit concerned about the uneasiness in his face.

Ryan did not reply and just simply stared at her and he gave her a small smile to reassure her. _Here goes nothing. God, why am I so freaking nervous? _Ryan thought. He wasn't usually nervous in situations like this but then again, he hadn't asked a girl to be his girlfriend for a really long time.

"Lauren," he started. "I know we've been really good friends since college and you've always been there for me no matter what." Lauren smiled urging him to go on.

"And I know that we've been dating for a while now, and I really do like you…I don't know if you feel the same about me but I guess what I'm trying to say is…"

Ryan surprised her by taking her hand and staring straight into her eyes. Lauren stared at him, still a bit confused but she had an idea of what was about to happen.

"I want to make you my girlfriend, Lauren."

Ryan let a breath out, quite relieved that he finally said it. He studied Lauren's face for any hint of what her reaction to this was. He started getting nervous that she didn't show any expression. His nervousness was eased when he saw a gentle smile form on her face.

Lauren moved her head closer to him until it was only centimeters away she smiled again before closing the gap between them. Ryan was overwhelmed yet happy as their lips touched. A few seconds passed before they pulled away from each other.

As soon as she caught her breath, Lauren gave him her answer.

"I would love to be your girlfriend."

They both smiled before they leaned in for another kiss, and this time it lasted longer until they were suddenly interrupted by a voice in the door.

"What do you want now Seth?" Ryan asked him quite annoyed about his intrusion.

"Oh, I just wanted to ask when you guys are finished making out if you guys are still up for my offer." Seth smirked.

"Sure, let's go." Lauren said giggling. She took her hand in Ryan's and walked out of the office.

All three of them made their way to the Bait Shop happily, absolutely unaware of the newest arrival in Newport.

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**Hope you guys liked this chapter!! As for the Ryan-Lauren thing, I didn't want Ryan and Marissa to be all over each other, that would be too unrealistic…but don't worry because the R/M relationship will develop little by little… **

**Please review!! **

**den**


	5. Chapter 5: The First Encounter

**Hey guys! Sorry for the delay…I really thought that I could post it sooner but it took longer than I thought oo hope you guys aren't too disappointed…anyways this chapter is pretty short so I decided to post two chapters to make it up to you guys :D hope that helps!! Enjoy!! **

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Melissa fixed the files on her table and straightened out everything in her office, the new editor would be coming any minute now and she wanted to be prepared. She walked to her desk and pressed the button on her speaker.

"Terri, please tell Summer that I'd like to speak to her now." she said through the speaker.

"_Of course, oh and Ms.-I mean Marissa just called me and said that she would be coming shortly."_ Terri said back.

"Alright, thank you Terri." Melissa said as she pressed the "end" button on her speaker.

A few minutes had passed before she heard a knock on the door and saw Summer come in her office.

"Summer, thank god you're here." Melissa said. "Is your office ready?" 

"Yeah, I just finished fixing everything." Summer said sitting on one of the chairs. "By the way Melissa, you've told me everything about my new partner but you haven't told me her name yet."

Melissa was about to answer her when they heard a voice say something through Melissa's speaker.

"_She has just arrived Ms. Anderson."_ Terri said in a very excited tone.

Melissa pressed the speaker button. "Great, send her in."

"She's here?" Summer asked getting excited.

"Yes, she's actually quite early." Melissa said checking her watch.

"So what's her name?" Summer asked again.

Melissa was interrupted yet again by her door opening to reveal Summer's new partner.

"Ah, Ms. Cooper, you're finally here." Melissa greeted as she came in.

"_Ms. Cooper?" _Summer thought confused. She got up from her seat and turned around to come face to face with her best friend. Her jaw dropped as she saw her. It's been so long since she had last seen her and it came more as a shock to see her again. All she could think about was the fact that she was back, and not only that but she was also gonna be her new partner in work. She was completely speechless.

"Oh, my god." was all Summer could manage to say.

As she walked into the head office, Marissa saw a tall lady who by the looks of it, was quite young and very well dressed smile and greet her as she came in and she assumed that it was her new boss, Melissa Anderson. There was another girl with her that she couldn't see since she was sitting on one of the chairs in front of the desk. She omly managed to see the back of her head. She saw the dark-haired girl get up from her seat and turn around to see the last person she expected to see.

Her eyes grew wide in disbelief, her best friend, Summer Roberts was her new co-worker. She suddenly felt guilty about all the years that they had lost contact with one another, it definitely wouldn't have been this awkward if they had kept in touch. She hoped that Summer wasn't mad at her for cutting off their communication with one another. She couldn't think of anything but the fact that this definitely couldn't have been a coincidence.

"Oh, my god." Marissa said.

The girls just sort of stared at each other, trying to take in everything. Melissa had guessed judging by the reaction of the two girls that they had probably known each other already and this made her even more ecstatic about the partnership.

"So, I'm guessing you two already know each other?" Melissa said looking from Marissa to Summer.

"Y-Yeah." Summer said.

Before anyone could say anything else, they were interrupted by a voice that was coming from Melissa's speaker.

"_Ms. Anderson, Jordan wants to know which design we're gonna use for the cover of the fall issue."_

Melissa pushed the button on her speaker. "Now's not a good time, Terri."

"_But Ms. Anderson he says that we need it now if we don't want to be late for the deadline."_

Melissa sighed as she gave her response. "Alright, but tell him to make it quick." She said as she turned her speaker off for any other interruptions.

"I should really take that thing off." She said as she turned to Summer and Marissa who were still frozen in shock. "Listen girls, I'm really sorry but I have to go down to the designer's office but Summer you can show Ms. Cooper around while I'm away right?"

"But-" Summer started to protest.

"I won't be long." Melissa said as she left the room.

There was a moment of awkward silence once Melissa closed the door until Summer decided to break the ice.

"So you're my new partner."

"Yeah." Marissa said softly, feeling really awkward.

"Guess that means you're back in Newport?" Summer asked.

"Yeah," Marissa said. "Look, I know that this is really awkward but I hope you're not too mad at me for coming back after so long."

Summer looked at her and to their surprise, she gave her a heartfelt embrace.

"How can I be mad at you for coming back?" Summer said as she started tearing up. "I was starting to wonder if you were ever coming back, if I would have my best friend back."

"Thanks Sum." Marissa said as they pulled back. Her eyes were starting to water as well. It had been so long since she had used that nickname.

"Anytime Coop." Summer said. It was so great to hear Marissa call her "Sum" again.

"I've missed you so much." Marissa said.

"So have I." Summer said.

"Well come on, Coop." Summer said taking her hand and pulling her to their office. "We've got lots to catch up on and we can start with what you have been doing these past few years."

Marissa smiled as she let her best friend drag her to their new office. She was happy that Summer already knew about her arrival in Newport and she was thrilled that they get to work together but she was still a bit worried of what would happen when the rest finds out…

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**Well I hope you guys liked that…and if you did please review:p**

**den**


	6. Chapter 6: The Good News

Seth drove in his SUV to Summer's office from the Bait shop, he was visiting Summer on her lunch break which he assumed was right about now. He parked his car at a vacant spot and made his way to the elevator inside. He was really excited to tell Summer the big news between Ryan and Lauren; he was happy that his best friend was finally starting to be happy and getting his life back on track. He stepped out of the elevator as it opened and walked toward the blonde in the desk in front of Summer's office.

"Hey Shannon, Is Summer here?" Seth said to her.

"Oh hey Seth, yeah she is, let me get her for you." Shannon said as she pressed the button on her speaker.

"Summer, Seth is here to see you." She said as she waited for Summer's response.

"_Okay I'll be right there." _Summer's voice was heard through the speaker.

A few seconds later Summer's door opened and Summer approached her boyfriend who was waiting for her.

"Hey." She said giving him a kiss.

"Hey." Seth said as they pulled back. "So, I have big news."

"Me too." Summer said excited, she couldn't wait to tell him about Marissa.

"Okay well then, you go first." Seth said.

"No, you first." Summer said.

"Okay, well I just came from the Bait shop with Ryan and Lauren." Seth said. "And well, they're kind of a couple now, isn't that great? They can finally be happy together now."

Summer's smile suddenly dropped as Seth told her his "news". Now that Marissa's back in Newport, things would just get even more complicated between them because of their history. She didn't know how Marissa would react to this but she could tell that it wasn't gonna be good.

"I really should have gone first." Summer said.

"Why what's up?" Seth asked confused.

"For the whole four years of knowing each other they just decide to get together now? Talk about bad timing." Summer said.

"What's the big deal anyway?" Seth asked still confused.

"Cohen, we have a problem." Summer said.

"What are you talking about?" Seth asked.

Before Summer could answer his question, they were interrupted by the office door swinging open and they both turned to see Marissa come out.

"Hey Sum, have you seen the-"

Marissa stopped when she saw Seth and Summer. "Hey Seth." She said. It had been so long since she had seen anyone here and it was great to see her friends again.

"Marissa hey." Seth said as he looked at Summer before giving Marissa a hug. "It's been uh…so long."

"Yeah." Marissa said as they pulled away. "But I'm back in Newport now so I guess I can catch up on everything I've missed."

"Really? You're back in Newport?" Seth said as he looked at Summer then back again at Marissa. "Well it's great to have you back, I'm sure things will get really…_**interesting**_ with you here."

"Thanks, it's great to be back." Marissa giggled. There was an awkward silence between the three until Marissa decided to break the silence.

"Okay, so I guess I'll see you guys around?" Marissa said.

"Yeah, we can catch up on umm…everything." Seth said.

"Alright I'll leave you two to discuss whatever you guys were talking about." Marissa said as she disappeared into their office.

Seth and Summer both nodded as Marissa went back in the office. Once she closed the door Seth turned to Summer.

"Yeah, we have a problem."

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Lauren collapsed on the couch in Ryan's apartment exhausted from their little trip to the Bait shop. She was soon joined by Ryan who was also tired.

"I've never seen anyone more excited about an amateur band before." Lauren said remembering Seth's behavior.

"Yeah well, I guess Seth was just trying to have some fun." Ryan said.

"At least he got some action on the dance floor." Lauren said looking at Ryan.

"Hey, I told you I don't do dancing." Ryan said. "The last time I danced was like, years ago."

"I think I can get you on the dance floor though sometime." Lauren said giving him a devilish look.

"I doubt it." Ryan said smiling at her persistence. "I officially gave up on dancing."

"Oh really?" Lauren said. She spotted Ryan's CD collection and took his Journey CD and held it up. "Maybe it's because of the music you listen to."

"Hey, Journey happens to be my favorite band." Ryan said as he tried to get his CD back.

Lauren got off the couch holding the CD away from Ryan's reach. "I'll give it back to you if you dance for me." She said playfully, laughing while Ryan struggled to get his CD.

"Hey, that's not fair." Ryan said laughing as he tried to take it from her.

Lauren moved away from him and accidentally knocked off some of his CD's that were stacked in a box behind his TV.

"Oops." Lauren said laughing, finally giving him his CD back as she picked the CD's up from the floor. "Sorry about that."

Ryan smiled as he got his CD back and helped Lauren place each of the CD's back in the box. She reached for the last one and noticed that it was a different one. It was obviously a burned CD since it had writings in the front which read "Happy 18th Ryan."

"What's this?" she asked holding it up.

Ryan looked to see the CD she was holding up. He wondered how long it had been since he listened to it. It had been a while. The CD Lauren was holding up was the copy of the "model home mix" that Marissa made for his 18th birthday. He found it in his mail the day she left, apparently she wanted him to have it before she left but it made her departure even harder for him. Seeing it again made him remember everything.

"Ryan? You okay?" Lauren said seeing that he was staring into space obviously thinking about something.

"Yeah," Ryan said shaking off his thoughts. "That CD was given by a friend." He said as he took the CD from Lauren.

"Oh," Lauren said. "Okay well, looks like you're more tired than I thought you were so it's my duty to help you relax." She said as she gave him a passionate kiss.

"Hey, you wanna order in?" Ryan asked as he pulled back.

"Yeah, sure." Lauren said.

"I've got menus in the kitchen." Ryan said. "You go choose one, I'll follow."

"Okay." Lauren said as she gave him a peck on the cheek.

Ryan smiled as she walked to his kitchen. He was really happy with her, he had everything he wanted, a great job, great life, great girlfriend, there wasn't anything that was missing in his life…right? He sighed as he looked down at the CD, or was there something he has been missing? He decided to think about it later and placed the CD on the table as he walked off to the kitchen to join his girlfriend.

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"Coop, hey." Summer said to Marissa as she walked in their office.

"Oh, hey Sum." Marissa said. "So I guess you and Seth are still together huh?"

"Yeah." Summer smiled.

"I thought so." Marissa said. "You guys actually seemed tense when I came out." Marissa raised her eyebrow.

"Oh, well I guess he was just surprised to see you." Summer said nervously. She knew the real reason why they were acting weird but she didn't want to spoil her first day at work by telling her about Ryan and his new girlfriend.

"Yeah, I guess so." Marissa said. "I mean, my return is sort of sudden."

"Besides, you know Cohen he's neurotic about everything." Summer said, giggling.

"Yeah, good point." Marissa laughed. "So how are you guys anyways?"

"We're great." Summer said.

"No plans of tying the knot?" Marissa asked.

"Coop!" Summer said blushing. "It's a bit too soon for that don't you think?"

"Well, it seems like you guys are all over each other anyways." Marissa said mischievously.

"Haha, very funny Coop." Summer said. "And what about you? I'm sure there's some hot Greek dude who's totally in love with you."

"No actually. I haven't had a boyfriend for a long time, I guess I just wanted to start a new life that doesn't revolve around boy drama." Marissa said.

She knew that while she was in Greece, she was surrounded by a lot of hot, nice guys but for some reason there was something that made her feel like none of them were good enough…

"Oh, well that is a big change for you." Summer said. Somehow she secretly wanted her to say she had someone in her life so things wouldn't be so awkward between her, Ryan and Lauren. "So where are you staying?"

"At my mom's and apparently your dad's mansion." Marissa said. "Guess that officially makes us sisters."

"Yeah," Summer smiled. "It's really great actually, I've always wanted a sister and now I get to have you as my sister."

"Yeah, it's really great." Marissa said smiling. She always had Caitlin as a sister but having her best friend as a part of her family was

"Hey, I've got an idea!" Summer said suddenly getting excited.

"What it is Sum?" Marissa asked curiously.

"Well, since you don't have a permanent place to live in and seeing that we're best friends and technically sisters, why don't you move in with us? I'm sure Taylor won't mind." Summer said. "Besides we've got an extra bedroom that you can have."

"You live with Taylor?" Marissa asked curiously.

"Yeah, we've become really close friends and we figured that it would be so much easier to pay taxes if we lived together." Summer explained. "So what do you say?"

"Sure, I'd love to move in with you guys Sum." Marissa said just as excited as Summer was.

"Yay!" Summer rejoiced. "I can't wait to tell Taylor!"

Marissa giggled at her friend's excitement and her own. She was really thrilled to live with Summer and Taylor. It was the perfect opportunity to catch up with them and to start over. Maybe life in Newport wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would be…

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"Hey man." Seth said as he entered Ryan's apartment. It was a beautiful apartment that Ryan designed. It was like Ryan's masterpiece that he had worked so hard on. It was practically his dream house.

"Hey." Ryan said from the kitchen. "Want some Chinese man? We've got leftovers."

"Sure," Seth said as he walked towards the food. "Where's Lauren?"

"She left, her boss called so she needed to go." Ryan said. "But she says thanks for inviting her to come with us to the Bait shop."

"So you and Lauren had a good time?" Seth said munching on a dumpling.

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, things are going really great."

Seth laughed at how clueless Ryan was about Marissa. "Yeah, for now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryan asked raising his eyebrow.

"What? Nothing." Seth said getting nervous. They both knew that he couldn't keep a secret but if he tells Ryan about Marissa, Summer may possibly kick his ass for telling. "Hey is that a new shirt you're wearing?" Seth asked trying to change the subject.

"Seth, what's going on?" Ryan asked firmly.

"Nothing." Seth said for the second time. "Nothing's going on, why would something be going on? Does it look like something's going on?" Seth started babbling out of nervousness that Ryan would find out. _Why can't I just keep my mouth shut?_

"It looks like you're hiding something." Ryan said. "And it also looks like you don't want me to find out what it is."

Seth started fidgeting out of nervousness. He was going to crack real soon and he had to find a way to get out of this mess.

"You know that whatever it is that you're hiding. I'm eventually gonna find out." Ryan said.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Seth said shakily.

"HA! I knew you were hiding something!" Ryan said triumphantly.

"No, I'm not." Seth said panicking. "And even if I was I wouldn't tell you."

"Oh, you're gonna tell me." Ryan said confidently. "We both know you will."

Seth froze trying to fight his instinct but it seemed that his he wasn't doing a good job of it. He was ready to crack when his phone rang from his pocket. He hurriedly grabbed his phone silently thanking to whoever was calling him. Seth saw that it was Summer and immediately picked up the phone.

"Summer, thank god!" Seth said on the phone relieved. He looked at Ryan who was looking even more suspicious. "I-I mean hey, babe."

"Cohen, why are you acting so weird? Well, weirder than usual." Summer asked on the other line, confused about her boyfriend's behavior.

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm here in Ryan's place." Seth said back, informing Summer of his circumstances without letting Ryan get even more curious than he already is.

"Cohen, what are you talkin-oh my god, you told him?!" Summer said finally realizing what was going on.

"What's that Summer? You need me to come over? Alright I'll be right there sweetie bye." Seth said hanging up.

"No, Cohen wait-" Seth hung up before Summer could finish. He knew that she was going to be confused and possibly pissed but he figured that he needed to explain it later when Ryan wasn't around.

"Sorry man I gotta go, Summer needs me." Seth said walking towards the door. "Thanks for the dumplings!"

"No, Seth you are not leaving until you tell me what the big secret is." Ryan said.

"Sorry, duty calls, see ya!" Seth said as he closed the door. _That was close._

Ryan saw that Seth was in a hurry to get away from telling him whatever he was hiding which made him even more curious on what it was. He decided to ask him tomorrow, either go to his office or go to Summer's place since they had been spending a lot of time there these days, either way, he was determined to find out.

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**Reviews are welcomed ******

**den**


	7. Chapter 7: The Interesting Start

**I'm so sorry for the constant delay of my stories you guys…its just that my schoolwork is getting WAY worse than it used to be oo but I'm not giving up on my stories and I hope you guys won't either….here's the next chappy…It's quite long and I think you guys will like it so I hope that makes up for the wait **

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Marissa got out of her car and made her way to the Robert's mansion after her first day of work. She opened the big white door that she had known so well when she was living there 4 years ago. She smiled at how everyone had changed over the past years, her mother really developed into a better person and now she was Mrs. Roberts. Marissa slightly laughed at herself, now she was a Roberts as well, she had a family again and she was thrilled about it.

"Mom? Kaitlin?" She called out as she entered the mansion.

She heard footsteps approaching her but it definitely wasn't her mother nor her sister. The tall man with grayish hair approached her and greeted her with a fatherly smile.

"Hello Marissa." He said. "It's so good to see you after all these years."

"Hey Mr. Roberts." Marissa said quietly.

"Please, call me Neil."

"Okay, umm…Neil." Marissa said trying to adjust to the name.

Neil smiled when she called her by his first name; she was accepting him into their family. "We're actually about to eat dinner, care to join us?"

"Sure." Marissa said following him to the dinner table beside the pool. She saw her mom and Caitlin setting up the table.

"Oh, hi Marissa." Julie said as she saw Marissa and her husband walk in. "How was your first day?"

"It was great," Marissa said as she took her seat. "Summer happens to be my new partner."

Julie smiled at her. "We know."

"What? You guys knew and you didn't tell me?" Marissa said. "How did you know anyways?"

"Well, when you told us that you were working for Chic magazine we knew that Summer works their as one of the most valued editors." Julie started.

"Yes, then when I asked her if they were getting a new employee, she said that she would be getting a new partner." Neil said smiling. "She was really excited about it too."

"Yeah, we knew that it would make you more nervous than you already are." Kaitlin said from across the table. "Besides, we wanted it to be a surprise."

Marissa didn't reply and just smiled at them. They had become a really good family and now she was part of that and she couldn't be happier.

"So how long will you be staying here Marissa?" Neil asked.

"Oh. Well actually I'll be moving in with Summer tomorrow." Marissa said. "We're really excited about it."

"Oh, that's great, although, we were hoping that we could spend more time with you here." Neil said.

"Yeah me too." Marissa said sadly. She had just gained a new family and she wanted to spend more time with them. "But me and Summer could come here every now and then to visit." Marissa offered.

"That would be wonderful." Julie said.

"Yes, it would be the perfect way to spend our Sundays as a family." Neil said.

"Yeah, too bad I can't be here to see it." Kaitlin said.

"Why not?" Marissa asked her sister.

"Because I have to go back to Berkeley." Kaitlin said.

"You go to Berkeley?" Marissa asked intrigued. "I knew that you were in college but I didn't know that you go there."

"Yeah, I decided to go to Berkeley for college kind of ironic that you wanted to go there too, Sandy and Kirsten were really thrilled about it though." Kaitlin said.

"How are they?" Marissa asked. "I really missed them."

"They missed you too." Julie said. "You should visit them sometime."

"Yeah, they will be pretty shocked though." Marissa said.

"Well, they think of you as their daughter anyway, it's like you're a part of their family." Kaitlin said.

"Yeah, I'm glad to be a part of that," Marissa replied. "I'm glad to be a part of this one too."

They all smiled at her. "So you're not mad that we didn't tell you?" Julie asked.

"No, I'm just bummed that I missed the wedding." Marissa smiled. "I think I could have been a pretty good maid-of-honor."

"I'm sure you would have." Julie said. "But we didn't think you would have come if we invited you."

"Of course I would have come." Marissa said. "I wouldn't want to miss your third wedding march."

Julie giggled. "Yeah, that may be true." Julie said looking at Neil. "But it was my last wedding march."

"Don't we know it." Neil said smiling back at Julie.

"Okay, that's our cue to leave before things get gross." Caitlin said grimacing at Julie and Neil's affection. "Honestly you guys, get a room."

"Very funny Caitlin." Julie said sarcastically.

Marissa laughed at her sister and mother. "I have to pack soon though." She said. "Summer's really excited about me moving in tomorrow, I am too but I would hate to miss out on 'family time'."

Neil smiled and got up his chair as Marissa got up from hers. "There'll be plenty of time for that." He said. "Oh, and by the way," he said extending his hand to her. "Welcome to the family."

Marissa stared at his hand which made both Julie and Neil nervous that she might have not accepted Neil as a step dad. To their surprise, instead of shaking his hand she gave him a heartfelt hug.

Neil was surprised by Marissa's gesture but he was really happy that she accepted him. He hugged her back for a while then they both pulled away. Marissa was so happy to hear those kind words. She knew that this was a whole new start, and she had her hopes that everything will work out great this time.

"Thanks Neil." Marissa said quietly.

They turned to Julie who was crying out of joy and Kaitlin was happy for them as well.

"Family hug?" Julie said extending her arms.

Everyone gathered around her and had a big family hug. Once they pulled away everyone had smiles on their faces. They were a family again.

"I'm so happy that we're all here together." Julie said.

"Mom," Kaitlin said rolling her eyes on her mother. "Can we please just help Marissa pack before it gets even more cheezy?"

Marissa laughed at her sister's embarrassment at their mother. She could definitely see her younger self in her.

"Alright then, Kaitlin." Julie said. "We'll help your sister pack after dinner."

"Great." Kaitlin said as they sat down again. They spent the rest of the night talking about each other's experiences over the past years and having a blast. They wanted to make up for lost time and they wanted to make sure Marissa's stay would be memorable.

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Summer woke up the next day with a headache and sore body parts. She got up from her bed and rubbed her head, hoping that it would be less painful. She checked the time to see that it was already 10:00 and she had overslept again.

She threw the covers off her body and rushed out of bed and ran into her bathroom. She picked up her toothbrush and stated brushing her teeth so hard that her gums were practically bleeding.

"Morning Summer!" Taylor said in her usual upbeat tone as she entered the bathroom.

"Taylor! Why didn't you wake me up? It's already 10:00 and I'm late for work!" Summer said after spitting out the toothpaste foam from her mouth. "I know that you go to your work a little later than I do, but it would be nice if you woke me up so I don't have to worry about getting fired."

"What are you talking about? You don't have work today." Taylor said giggling at her friend's sillyness.

"What?" Summer asked still panicking.

"Hello? Earth to Summer, you have your day off remember? You even told me how excited you were since Marissa would be moving in with us and personally, I'm really excited as well-"

"Oh my god, Marissa!" Summer interrupted, remembering the arrival of her best friend. "Is her room ready yet? She should be here any minute and-"

"Summer relax," Taylor said putting her hands on Summer's shoulders and shook her to stop her from panicking. "I already took care of it."

"You did?" Summer asked surprised.

"Yeah, you're not the only one excited about Marissa being our new roomie!" Taylor said jittery.

"Taylor don't call her that." Summer said. "But thanks for fixing it up."

They both turned their heads to the door when they heard the doorbell ring.

"That must be her." Summer said rushing to the door.

"Ooh! Wait for me!" Taylor said running after her.

Summer opened the door to see Marissa standing there surrounded by all her luggage.

"Coop!" Summer said excitedly as she greeted her with a hug. Marissa hugged her back and spotted a very excited Taylor who was standing behind her.

"Hey Taylor!" Marissa said as she gave her a hug as well.

"Marissa! Oh my god it's been years since I last saw you." Taylor said as she hugged her back.

"Yeah, I've been getting a lot of those greetings lately." Marissa said as they pulled away.

"But it's gonna be so much fun though now that you're here!" Taylor said. "We're all gonna be roomies!"

"Roomies?" Marissa asked.

"It's a Taylor thing." Summer replied. "You'll get used to it don't worry."

"I hope I do." Marissa laughed.

"Come on in to your new home," Summer said warmly as she and Taylor helped Marissa carry her bags inside. "We can give you the grand tour later but, first let's go help you settle in your new room."

As they walked in, Marissa took a better look at her new home and noticed that their house was absolutely gorgeous. Their walls were peach and it had all sorts of artworks hanging on the walls. There were great pieces of furniture and pretty decorations everywhere which made it look even better. It looked really big and it was really near the beach which gave it nice views. Everything looked spotless and absolutely amazing.

Summer and Taylor led her in front of one of the rooms. Summer opened the door and Marissa's jaw dropped. Her room was just as beautiful as the apartment; it had pink walls and frilly curtains hanging from the windows which had an amazing view of the beach and not just that but she had a balcony as well which you could see the sunset from. Her furniture was well-crafted as well, just like the rest of the furniture in the house. She was completely speechless.

"Is it okay Coop?" Summer asked.

"O-Okay? Sum, this place is beautiful!" Marissa said as she walked in her room and started looking around a little closer. "And the views are awesome! And I get to have a balcony too?"

"Yeah, we all have balconies." Taylor said cheerfully. "It makes it easier to check out hot guys on the beach."

"We all have walk-in closets too." Summer said.

"Are you serious?" Marissa asked excitedly.

"Go check it out." Summer said pointing towards the closet.

Marissa opened the door and saw empty closets just waiting for her to use. It was so big that she wasn't even sure if she had enough clothes to fill this up.

"I must be dreaming." Marissa said "I don't even think I have enough clothes for a closet this big."

"Well, being a top-editor in Chic magazine means that you get a lot of clothes too." Summer said smiling.

"It also means that I get them as gifts for Christmas from Summer." Taylor said smiling as well.

"We're really glad that you like it." Summer said.

"Like it? I'm in love with this place! It's absolutely beautiful! Whoever your interior designer is must be really good." Marissa said.

"Thanks, actually you're looking right at her." Taylor said. "I work in interior design and I designed this place."

Marissa looked at her shocked. "Wow Taylor, I didn't know you were interested in design before."

"Neither did I." Summer said. "That's why I was just as surprised as you are now when she decided to take up interior design in Providence."

"Well, you're really good at it." Marissa said.

"Thank you, what can I say? It's a gift." Taylor said proudly.

All three girls were laughing when they heard the doorbell ring the second time.

"I'll get that," Summer said. "You guys can fix Marissa's stuff while I answer the door."

She smiled at the happy sight before leaving the room. She made her way to the door and opened it to see Seth at their doorway.

"Hey" he said leaning for a kiss

"Oh, no you don't Cohen." Summer said backing away from him. "I can't believe that you can't even keep a secret for like, fifteen minutes."

"I didn't tell Ryan anything." Seth protested.

"Yeah, but now he's suspicious." Summer said.

"Come on, you know that he's gonna find out anyway." Seth said.

"Yeah, I know but thanks to you, he's gonna find out sooner." Summer said.

"What's the big deal anyway? I mean, he's got Lauren now and they've moved on from each other, right?"

Summer thought for a while about what Seth had just said. "I hope so…"

Summer and Seth's conversation was interrupted by a fit of giggles that were approaching them. They turned to see that it was Taylor and Marissa who were coming out of Marissa's room. Taylor and Marissa made their way to Summer and Seth still laughing while Seth and Summer were completely oblivious to why they were laughing so hard.

"Hey Seth." Taylor and Marissa said as they spotted them.

"Hey," Seth said. "What's so funny?"

Taylor and Marissa looked at each other and started laughing again. They were laughing so hard that they couldn't say anything in between their laughter.

"Okay…" Summer said still confused. "Well, you can tell us later, but for now we have to finish unpacking Coop's stuff so we can show her around Newport to show her what she's been missing."

"Okay." They both said trying to control their laughter.

They all made their way back to Marissa's room when they heard the doorbell ring the third time.

"We've been getting a lot of visitors this morning, most of which are unexpected," Summer said. "Taylor could you get that?"

"In a minute." Taylor said as she and Marissa looked through old photographs of when they were in high school.

"I'll get it." Seth said to Summer as he made his way to the door. "I don't think I could stand you guys talking about clothes or fashion or something anyways."

"Alright Cohen, thanks." Summer called out to him.

Seth made his way to the door expecting the mailman or newspaper boy but he opened the door to someone completely different. Seth's eyes widened when he saw him standing there.

"Ryan? Hey man, what are you doing here?" Seth said, his nervousness creeping out once more.

"I decided to stop by, you don't look too happy to see me." Ryan said with a sly smile.

"Oh, no it's just that I wasn't expecting to see you here," Seth said.

"Well, I remembered that we had a little conversation that we hadn't finished yet." Ryan said smirking at Seth's uneasiness, he was gonna crack soon and Ryan would finally know what the big secret is. "And since you weren't at your apartment, I figured that you'd be here."

"Yeah, about that…" Seth started to say but he was interrupted by laughter coming from Marissa's room which he figured was Summer, Taylor and Marissa. _Oh, god_. He can't let Ryan see her or Summer would kick his ass…literally.

"What's that?" Ryan asked curiously trying to look over Seth's shoulder.

"Nothing." Seth said as he blocked Ryan's view.

Ryan was about to say something but they were interrupted by a very perky voice.

"Hey Seth wanna join us we're-" Taylor stopped when she saw Ryan in the doorway.

"Hey Ryan, didn't expect to see you here." Taylor said getting quite nervous herself.

"Just decided to stop by," Ryan said even more confused that even Taylor seemed like she was keeping something from him.

"Wonderful," Taylor said giving Seth a look. "Hey, why don't you sit on the couch while me and Seth can get you something to drink?"

"Sure, thanks." Ryan said as he made his way over to the leather couch.

"Okay, great just stay there and we'll be back in a flash." Taylor said grabbing Seth by the hand.

She led him to the kitchen which was luckily separated from the living room with a door so no one could hear or see them from there.

"Seth what is he doing here?" Taylor said whispering to make sure Ryan doesn't hear them. "Did you invite him?"

"What? No." Seth said. "He just kinda showed up."

"Yeah? Well he's just gonna freak out if he bumps into Marissa."

"Yeah, I know I'm working on it." Seth said. "He won't suspect a thing."

"You've got to be kidding me." Taylor said almost laughing. "Seth, no offense, but all of us know that you can't keep a secret to save your life."

Just then, they heard someone come in the kitchen and turned to see a slightly pissed Summer standing there.

"Summer hey." Seth said nervously. "What's up?"

"'What's up' Seth? Hmm, let's see, I'll tell you what's up maybe the fact that Ryan is in our living room couch while Marissa is moving into her new room." Summer said.

"Okay, I can explain." Seth said to the two girls, both with crossed arms.

"Save it Cohen, we don't have time for your excuses, we have to find a way to get Ryan out of here before Marissa sees him." Summer said opening the kitchen door.

They walked into the living room and went in front of the couch.

"Hey, so what are you guys doing?" Ryan asked.

"Wow Atwood, that's the first time you've been frank." Summer said. "Umm…we were actually just talking about Taylor's unusual day at work, right Taylor?" 

Taylor gave a fake uneasy smile. "What unusual day at work Summer?" she said giving her a glare.

"Oh, you know, the one with umm…you guys doing your jobs."

"Well of course we do our job that's why it's called work." Taylor said stiffly.

Ryan was about to ask something when he heard his cell phone ring.

"Will you guys excuse me for a minute?" They all nodded with relief as he quickly answered his call.

"Unusual day at work?" Taylor whispered to Summer.

"I couldn't think of anything else." Summer whispered back. They saw Ryan finishing his call and quickly gave him fake smiles, making it look like nothing was wrong.

"Okay, so that was Lauren." Ryan said. "Sorry to be rude you guys but I gotta go."

"Oh, no it's fine we understand." Summer said relieved.

All three started talking at the same time but they were soon interrupted by a voice behind Ryan. They exchanged nervous looks and their eyes widened when they saw who it was.

"Hey you guys have to see this-" Marissa stopped dead in her tracks when she saw someone get up from the couch to turn and face her. She couldn't see who it was at first but realized that it was someone from her past which truly shocked the hell out of her to see.

"Ryan…"

Ryan heard a feminine voice over his shoulder and could have sworn that he knew that voice. He saw Seth, Summer and Taylor's eyes widen when they saw the person, which made him curious to see who it was. He turned to see Marissa standing there, right in front of him and for a minute, he almost thought that he was dreaming. He was really shocked to see her, questions were filling his mind right about now but he knew that they would be answered later.

"Marissa…"

Seth, Summer and Taylor just looked from Marissa to Ryan, watching their reactions like they were watching a movie being played right in front of them. There was a long awkward silence that stretched between them before Ryan decided to speak.

"I thought that you were in Greece." Ryan said still frozen with shock. He took a good look at her and realized that she had changed over the years. She had the same face, the same eyes, the same smile that used to make his days brighter. _But that was then, I have Lauren now _he reminded himself.

"Yeah, it's kind of a long story." Marissa said quietly. She saw that Ryan was the same guy that she knew 4 years ago, aside from a tan and a more built body, he was the same old Ryan that she fell in love with years ago. She remembered those days back then when he was the only reason she wanted to live through each day, but she knew that those days were over and now they were no more than just friends.

"Well, it's great to have you back." Ryan said as he pulled her into a hug. He definitely missed her and it was so nice to have her back in his life again. He forgot how delicate her body was; he hugged her tight feeling his 'savior' mechanism coming back after such a long time.

"It's great to be back." Marissa said as she hugged him back. It was so nice to feel his arms wrapped around hers again, just like old times.

They pulled away and there was a momentary silence in the room.

"So, we were going to the pier to catch up on everything…wanna join us?" Marissa asked him.

"Yeah, sure if that's okay with you guys." Ryan said looking at the three who were still standing there.

"S-Sure let's go." Summer said as she opened the door for them. She waited for Ryan and Marissa to go out first and when they were gone she turned to Taylor and Seth.

"How long do you think they'll last before Marissa finds out about Lauren?" she asked.

"I'd give them a week." Taylor said.

"A week? I'd give them three days." Seth said.

"Please, I'd give them 30 minutes." Summer said.

They were interrupted by Marissa calling them from outside.

They all laughed quietly to themselves as they went out knowing that things will really start to get interesting now.

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**What did you guys think? Review please and I will update sooner :D**

**den**


	8. Chapter 8: The Foreshadowing

**Thanks soooo much for the reviews you guys! I was so happy that the number of reviews went from 6 to 20 after one chapter :D anyways, you guys motivated me to post the next chapter so here it is…it's a bit shorter than the previous one but this is more of a foreshadow of the next chapter…hope you guys like it **

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"Morning." Sandy greeted his wife, giving her a quick kiss as he entered the kitchen of the Cohen house. After their boys left for college and got their own lives straightened out, it had been pretty empty without them. Sure, Ryan and Seth occasionally visit them but they really missed them being around.

"Good morning to you too." Kirsten greeted back as she pulled away. She prepared breakfast for the two of them. The usual bagels were of course part of their breakfast. Ironically, she felt like their enormous house was empty at times, she figured that it was because of the kids' going off to start a life of their own. As a mother, it was really hard to know that her sons didn't need her anymore although she was really proud of both of her sons' success.

"Thanks dear." Sandy said as he munched on his bagel. "Gotta get some energy for the case today at the office." A couple of years after the kids went off to college, Sandy went back to doing what he loved best, being a public defender, but now he was a successful lawyer.

"That's today?" Kirsten asked. Since Sandy left the Newport group she decided that she would take care of it herself, after all her father would have wanted it that way.

"Yup, which means I have to leave soon." He said checking his watch. "8:30? I need to go right now."

"Alright I guess I'll see you later then." Kirsten said as she watched her husband hurriedly packed his stuff for work.

"Yeah, we can go out if you want." Sandy said.

"Sure, that sounds great." Kirsten said.

"I'll pick you up from the Newport group later then." Sandy said kissing her goodbye. "Bye dear."

"Bye." Kirsten said as Sandy walked to the door. She started packing up herself, since she had to go to work shortly as well. She heard the phone ring and went to answer it.

"Hello?" She said taking the wireless phone out of the receiver.

"Kiki!" she heard the voice on the other line greet back.

"Hello Julie." Kirsten said.

"I have huge news!" Julie said excitedly. "Get ready to be shocked and I'm talking major surprise."

"What is it?" Kirsten asked as she poured herself some coffee.

"Okay, so I know I should've told you this earlier since it happened a couple of days ago but I was so excited that I totally forgot." Julie said hurriedly.

"Whoa, Julie, slow down." Kirsten said taking a sip of her freshly brewed coffee.

"Okay, I'll just come right out and say it then…Marissa's back in Newport!" Julie exclaimed.

Kirsten almost choked on her coffee when she heard Julie's big news. "Marissa's back?"

"Yeah, she arrived here a few days ago and well, it was like fate brought her here since she came back because she got a job offer to a partnership with the editor of Chic magazine." Julie explained.

"The editor of Chic magazine?" Kirsten said still in shock. "Isn't that Summer?"

"Yup." Julie said. "And not just that but Marissa is moving in with her and Taylor. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah it is." Kirsten said. She was really happy that Marissa was back. Her and Sandy has always treated her like she was their own daughter so when she left for Greece four years ago, they were saddened along with everyone else. Having her back was truly a blessing.

"Well, so far Neil, Caitlin, Summer, Seth, you and myself know about her coming back so you might as well tell Sandy as well so we can all get together and catch up on everything." Julie said happily.

"Does-" Kirsten hesitated. "Does Ryan know?"

"I honestly don't now." Julie said. "But he should know by now right?"

"I guess so." Kirsten said. She didn't know why she was worried about Ryan finding out about Marissa, he had moved on with Lauren right? But she could distinctly remember how brokenhearted he was when she left. She couldn't imagine how he was gonna take the news. "I just hope he isn't too overwhelmed."

"I'm sure he won't be I mean, he missed her just as much as we did, maybe even more." Julie said. "This might actually be good for him."

"Yeah, I guess." Kirsten said. "I really hope you're right."

"Yeah," Julie said. There was a long pause as they both got lost in their thoughts. "Okay, so I need to go, Neil wants me to help him with umm…something at work." Julie said.

"Something at work? Julie, you know nothing about plastic surgery." Kirsten asked with her eyebrows raised. She knew Julie too well to know when she was lying, especially about doing the deed with doctor Roberts. "Besides Kaitlin is there isn't she?"

"No, she and Marissa left this morning." Julie said. "Which means that it's just me, Neil and a king-sized bed."

"Julie, please stop." Kirsten said disgusted. "I don't want to know the details of your sex life, thank you very much."

"Alright then, see ya later Kirsten." Julie said laughing at how disgusted Kirsten was.

"Bye Julie." Kirsten said as she hung up.

She sighed as she finished the rest of her coffee. Things will be really different now and she just hoped that it would be different in a good way.

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Lauren sat at her usual table at the café. It had been thirty minutes since she called Ryan to meet her there, she was starting to worry but figured to give him ten more minutes before she would call him.

She smiled as she thought of him. She was really lucky to have him, he was a sweet, caring guy and not to mention really hot as well. Although she was a very beautiful girl and a lot of guys hoped for her to notice them, she chose Ryan over all of them. There was just something about him that made her want to explore. There was this side of him that he wouldn't open up to her, sort of like he had lost someone close to him. Although she had known him ever since freshman year at Berkeley she couldn't get him to talk about his past. She smiled to herself as she remembered the first time they met.

"_Excuse me?" Lauren said tapping on some guy's shoulder. "Do you know where room 12 is? I'm a bit lost."_

_The guy turned to face her and smirked at her. She was beautiful and she definitely caught his attention. "I'm guessing you're a freshman?"_

"_Yeah, and I don't know my way around here yet." She replied. "I'm Lauren by the way." She said extending her hand._

"_I'm Nick." The guy said shaking her hand. "Come on I'll take you there."_

"_Thanks Nick." She said. They started walking in the halls and she could've sworn that she heard his friends laughing as they walked off._

_When they arrived there, she noticed that there was no one in the room. Nick opened the door for her and she walked in the room._

"_Are you sure this is room 12?" Lauren asked looking around._

"_Of course." Nick said as he closed the door behind him and locked it. When Lauren saw him lock the door, she knew that he had bad intentions for her._

"_Thanks for the help Nick but I think I need to go." Lauren said as Nick walked closer towards her._

_Nick ignored her as he pushed her up the wall and started kissing her. Lauren tried to struggle out of his grip but it was no use, he was just too strong for her._

"_What the hell are you doing?" Lauren yelled as she struggled._

"_Shh, it's okay just hold still." Nick said as he continued to kiss her, working his way down to her neck._

"_Get off of me you asshole!" Lauren screamed. "Help! Anyone!"_

"_No one can hear you baby." Nick said slyly._

_Lauren ignored him and yelled as loud as she could. If someone didn't come here soon, Nick would take advantage of her._

"_HELP!"_

_Ryan walked along the halls on his first day at Berkeley. He was walking off to his first class of the day when he heard a girl's voice screaming. He followed the sound to a classroom and tried to open the door but soon found out that it was locked. He pushed the door as hard as he could and after a while it finally swung open. He entered the room to see some guy who was taking advantage of some girl._

"_Hey! Get away from her!" Ryan shouted at him. Seeing that he wasn't listening to him, he punched him right across his face, causing him to fall onto the floor. The guy got up and tried to punch Ryan back but failed as Ryan punched him real bad in the face. He fell to the floor once again unable to move. Ryan saw that the guy wasn't gonna get up again so he approached the girl who was sitting on the floor crying._

"_It's okay now." Ryan said to her softly. "We better get out of here before he gets up again."_

_The girl nodded as she slowly got up. Ryan noticed that she was really pretty, she actually seemed to look a whole lot like someone he knew. She let him help her up as she tried to dry her tears._

"_Thanks, umm…" she started to say._

"_Ryan." He said._

"_Thanks Ryan." She said trying her best to give him a weak smile. "I'm Lauren."_

_He smiled back at her which made her insides go upside down. He was really good-looking._

"_Come on, I'll help you get to your next class Lauren." He said._

"_Okay." She said. "This guy is really something." She thought to herself. He was handsome and a gentleman and there was barely any guys like that. As she walked along the hallway with him, she knew that this was a start of a great friendship and she hoped that one day it can eventually become more…_

She finally got what she had wanted, she finally had Ryan as her boyfriend and now all she could hope for was for it to last. After waiting all these years, she was happy and she wouldn't let anyone get in the way of that.

She checked the time once again and sighed as she took her phone out of her bag and dialed Ryan's cellphone number.

"Hello?" Ryan said answering his phone.

"Hey baby." Lauren greeted.

"Hey." He said from the other line.

"So, where are you? I'm starting to worry since it's been almost an hour since I called you to meet me here." Lauren said.

"Oh, right." Ryan said. "Oh, my god I'm so sorry babe, it's just that I uhh…ran into Seth, Summer and Taylor and they convinced me to go eat with them at the pier, I hope you understand."

"Yeah, it's fine I guess." Lauren said with a hint of disappointment in her tone. "You guys have fun."

"You sure?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, I'll just see you later." Lauren said.

"Alright, see you then."

"Yeah, bye." Lauren said hanging up.

She was disappointed that she couldn't have lunch with him but figured that he might think that she was too clingy if she asked him to give up spending time with his friends to meet her.

She thought for a while and packed her stuff as she asked for her check from the waiter. She though that it would be nice to go to the pier and surprise Ryan, after all she didn't see any harm in that.

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**Okay so I don't know if you guys approve of the way that Ryan and Lauren met but I was just emphasizing Ryan's "savior" mechanism towards other people and how Lauren started liking him because of that. :p**

**Anyways, please review because I'm sure you guys will find the next chapter very…interesting….hehe :D**

**den**


	9. Chapter 9: First Impressions

**Thanks for the reviews guys! By the way, the other day I just realized that chapter 6 was missing some parts and I've already added those to it so you guys can rwad it again if you want…I guess that's what happens when you've got a whole fan fic stored in Microsoft word…it's pretty confusing at times lol. Anyways sorry for the confusion and the delay of this chapter…**

**Hope you guys like it! **

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"So, let me get this straight, you went to college in the University of Athens and took fashion as your major, then Chic magazine offered you a job to be Summer's partner and one of the most respected editors in fashion, you just moved in with Summer and Taylor and you and Summer are practically sisters?" Ryan asked as they walked along the pier.

"Yeah, pretty much." Marissa said as she took another bite on her pizza.

"Wow, a lot's happened."

"Yeah, everything has been going so fast." Marissa said. "I didn't that my life in Newport can get together so easily."

"Do you miss life in Greece?" Ryan asked.

"I guess, it was so peaceful there, me and my dad got along really well." Marissa said.

"That's sounds great." Ryan said softly.

"Yeah, I miss my dad though." Marissa said. "It was really hard to leave him."

"But it wasn't that hard for you to leave Newport right?" Ryan said in an unexpected bitter tone.

Marissa hung her head low, obviously feeling guilty and hurt at his words. Ryan was shocked at how bitter he sounded, he shouldn't be mad that she left, he should be happy for her, he was her friend.

"I-I'm sorry." Ryan said. "I didn't mean to say that."

"Yeah, you did." Marissa said quietly. "But you know that it was just as hard to leave you guys, maybe even harder." She said as she looked into his eyes, she had recognized the deep blue shade that made it distinct from all the rest.

"I know, I guess I was just really upset that you left," Ryan said looking back at her. "I've really missed you."

"I missed you too."

A long awkward silence stretched between them. The time they had apart had put them into awkward silences. They had been through so much that they usually never had awkwardness dwell between them. Then again, things have been so different lately.

"Hey!" Seth called out to the two as he caught up with them.

Ryan and Marissa instantly broke their stare when they heard Seth's voice.

"You guys mind if I walk with you guys first? Summer and Taylor are fighting over which bag is better, and their asking me to choose and you guys know how they get when they aren't picked, either way I'm gonna get hurt." Seth said in a scared, rushed way.

"Sure, Seth you can walk with us for a while." Ryan said laughing a bit at his friend.

"Yeah, I know how they can get with Summer's rage blackouts and Taylor's anger problems." Marissa laughed as well.

"So, what were you guys talking about?"

"Umm…we were just talking about Marissa's new job with Summer." Ryan said.

"Yeah, it's gonna be really fun." Marissa smiled.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will, since you guys are like sisters now." Seth said.

"Cohen!" Summer called as she and Taylor joined them.

"Summer please, I don't wanna choose between your bags!" Seth said hiding behind Ryan.

"Oh, we already resolved that." Taylor said.

"Really? How?" Seth asked coming out from behind Ryan.

"Well, we found out that Taylor's bag was a fake." Summer said.

"It's not my fault that the guy at the store said that it was real." Taylor protested.

"Please, you were just checking him out," Summer said. "You didn't even listen to a word he said."

"Well, that may be true." Taylor shrugged. "He had great muscles and a nice a-"

"Taylor please! You have a boyfriend, you're not supposed to talk like that about some other guy." Summer said disgusted.

"You have a boyfriend?" Marissa asked.

"Yeah, his name's Lance, and he's a real hunk." Taylor said smiling. "God, just thinking about him and his six pack-"

"Please Taylor, we don't need details." Summer said rolling her eyes on her friend.

"So things didn't work out with that Korean guy?" Marissa asked.

"Sung Ho?" Taylor giggled. "Wow, it's been a while since anyone's mentioned him, no we decided to break it off since he wanted to go back to Korea and open up a restaurant there or something, anyways I just didn't want to get in the way."

"Aww, that's so sweet of you Taylor." Marissa said.

"Yeah, before I start crying can we change the topic please?" Seth said sarcastically. "Taylor's love life is so…gross."

"Well, she does have a different taste in men." Summer said.

"Really hot men." Taylor added.

"Well, I guess." Summer said. "I have to admit, Lance is pretty hot."

"Hey, don't forget, you have a boyfriend too," Seth said. "And he's standing right beside you."

"Oh, I'm sorry Cohen." Summer said as she gave him the cutest puppy pout she could make. "How can I ever make it up to you?"

"I'm sure we can come up with something." Seth said. He pulled her into a kiss which became more heated.

"Now _that's_ gross." Taylor said. "At least me and Lance don't do PDA…well, not usually."

"Shut up Taylor." Seth said annoyed by her interference. Everyone laughed at their bickering.

"Well, what about you?" Ryan asked Marissa hesitantly. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Everyone shifted their attention to Marissa, waiting for what she had to say. They could feel the awkwardness and anticipation in the air as they waited for her answer.

"No actually." Marissa finally answered. "I haven't had a boyfriend for a really long time."

"Oh." Ryan said when she answered. For some reason, the awkward nervousness he felt disappeared at her answer. He felt more comfortable, and weirdly, relieved.

"Well, what about you? Do you have a girlfriend?" Marissa asked curiously.

Ryan was about to answer her question when he stopped as he saw someone in the distance making her way to them, he started feeling uneasy, this wasn't good.

Marissa, Seth, Summer and Taylor all noticed Ryan looking at something and he looked quite uneasy. They all turned their heads to the person Ryan was looking at and saw Lauren walking towards them. Summer and Taylor recognized her immediately and began to feel uneasy as well. Marissa on the other hand, had no idea whatsoever of who she was, but she guessed that she was about to find out.

"Hey Lauren." Seth greeted as she approached them, obviously uncomfortable with the situation.

"Hey, Seth, Summer, Taylor." She greeted all three of them then she turned her attention to Ryan. "Hey, you." She leaned for a kiss but to her surprise, Ryan backed away avoiding it.

"Hey." He said awkwardly. She was confused on his behavior but decided to ask him later. She turned to face the others and noticed that there was another girl with them. She hadn't recognized her and assumed that she was new in Newport.

"I-I don't think I know you." Lauren said to a confused Marissa. "Did you just move here?"

"Yeah, actually I'm an old friend." Marissa said. "I went away for a while and now I'm back in Newport."

"Oh, well I see that Ryan has no intention whatsoever of introducing me so I guess I'll have to introduce myself." She said. "I'm Lauren."

"You know that I'm not much of a talker." Ryan said.

"Yeah, I know baby." Lauren said giggling.

Seth, Summer, Taylor and Ryan exchanged nervous looks. Marissa had definitely noticed Lauren's affection towards Ryan.

"So, you're…" Marissa started.

"Ryan's girlfriend." Lauren finished for her.

Marissa froze in shock. She didn't understand why but she could have sworn that she felt a bit jealous? _No, there's no way. _She figured that she just felt a bit weird by the fact that Ryan had a new girlfriend. _Nope definitely not jealousy._

"So, you still haven't told me your name." Lauren said confused at Marissa's reaction.

"I-I'm Marissa." she said obviously not in the right state of mind, extending her hand.

"_Marissa?"_ Lauren thought. That name was so familiar, like she had remembered it from somewhere. She then realized where she had heard that name.

_It was already nearing the second semester of their second year at Berkeley and mid-term was only a week away. Lauren walks to her locker after another class for the day, when she spots Ryan by his locker. He looks a bit preoccupied so she decides to sneak up on him._

"_Hey Ryan!" Lauren surprised him at his locker. Ryan jumped as Lauren shouted his name at his ear._

"_Lauren, you scared the hell out of me!" Ryan said putting his hand on his chest._

"_Sorry." She said giggling. "So you ready? We have to leave now or we're gonna be late for class."_

"_Yeah, let me just fix my stuff." Ryan said as he dumped all his stuff in his locker. "Okay, let's go."_

_Ryan starts to walk off and Lauren follows him but spots something falling out of his locker._

"_Hey, you dropped something." She called out._

"_We don't have time to pick it up, we're gonna be late." Ryan said. _

"_I'll slip it in your locker for you." Lauren offered. "I don't think Professor Callaghan notices if I'm late anyways."_

"_Alright, thanks." Ryan said as he rushed off to class. "I owe you one."_

_Lauren approached the piece of paper lying on the floor and recognized Ryan's handwriting on it. It had so much erasures and it seemed like Ryan had a hard time writing it. She knew that it was wrong to read it, but she couldn't help but be curious. She looked around to see if anyone was still there, and when she saw that the coast was clear, she read the letter._

_Marissa,_

_I know that the last time we saw each other wasn't exactly how I planned it out to be, and there were some things that I wasn't able to say, since you know how I am with words, I guess I just wanted to tell you that I'm really sorry for not being able to be there for you when you needed someone the most with Volchok and everything. I really don't know what came over me…maybe I was just too hurt by our past issues, maybe I was scared but whatever it was, I'm ready to make it up to you. The accident really did scare me, for a minute there I thought that it was all over. When we said our goodbyes, I just couldn't get the words out so now I'm gonna say it…you really mean a lot to me Marissa, maybe even more than you think and that's never gonna change and I just want you to always know that..._

_Ryan._

_Lauren stared at the letter. She had never seen this side of Ryan, the side of him that she wanted so badly for him to open up to her but he never seemed to be able to do so. She couldn't help but feel jealous towards this Marissa girl, whoever she is. She wanted Ryan to say the same things to her, but she knew that Ryan only saw her as a friend which made her even more determined to go after him._

_Lauren noticed that the date on the letter was dated right before they started their first year in Berkeley. Obviously Ryan didn't have the guts to mail it and somehow, that made Lauren feel a little better. Maybe he didn't mail it because he didn't really mean what he said? But then why does he still have it? Does he still have feelings for this girl? Do they have a past together? Lauren was in deep thought and full of questions when she someone calling out her name._

"_Ms. Smith!"_

_Lauren quickly folded the letter back again and hid it from the voice that was calling her name which she recognized to belong to one of her professors._

"_Good afternoon Professor Mendez."_

"_Aren't you late for class?" he asked sternly._

"_Yes, I…umm…I was actually on my way there." _

_He looked at her like she was guilty of something. He knew exactly when a student was lying but he decided to let it slide. _

"_Well, better hurry if you don't want to get suspended." He said. He saw Lauren nodding at him when he noticed that she was holding something in her hand. "What is that?" he asked pointing at the piece of paper she was holding._

_Lauren's face tuned pale when he pointed to what she was holding. "This? Oh, it's nothing really." She said trying to get out of the situation she was in._

"_It doesn't look like nothing, in fact it looks like you're trying to hide that from me and if you don't tell me what it is, I might just take it from you and find out myself"_

"_Oh, god." Lauren thought to herself. She couldn't let him confiscate Ryan's PERSONAL letter to some girl that she didn't even know especially after being caught reading it. Ryan would hate her if he found out. She needed an excuse and she needed it fast._

"_Well, I um…I…"_

"_Mr. Mendez!"_

_Lauren was interrupted by another student who was calling Mr. Mendez in the hallway. Whoever it was, she was silently thanking him for saving her butt while she let out a sigh of relief._

_The student approached the two looking slightly confused._

"_Uh…sorry to interrupt but Mr. Mendez, there's an emergency meeting in the faculty and they need you right away."_

_Lauren didn't see why they call it 'emergency meetings', they practically have one every week so why bother? But then again, it means that she's off the hook so she didn't mind._

"_Thank you Thomas, please tell them I'll be right there."_

_The young man nodded as he ran off again to the teacher's lounge. Mr. Mendez then turned to Lauren._

"_Okay, so I'll let you go just this once but don't think that you'll be let off that easily, if I ever see you messing around in the hallways again-"_

_  
"It won't happen again Mr. Mendez, I promise." Lauren said, cutting him off before he could finish._

"_Alright then, get to class." He said as he walked off._

_Lauren waited until he was out of sight and leaned on the lockers as she let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding._

"_That was close." She thought._

_She decided to hurry to class before she got into even more trouble. She carefully folded the paper back and slid it through one of the slits in Ryan's locker. She picked up her shoulder bag and hurried to go to her next class._

_She thought over about what had just happened. She was really curious about the girl Ryan was writing to, what was she like? Lauren was the kind of girl who wanted to know her competition, and right now, this girl was her competition even if she didn't know her…_

"Umm…Lauren? Are you okay?"

Lauren looked up at Marissa whose hand was still extended towards her awkwardly. She looked up and down at her. After all these years, she finally met _her._

"Right, sorry." Lauren said as she took Marissa's hand and shook it vigorously. "It's _very_nice to meet you." Lauren said as she shook Marissa's hand.

"Uhh…thanks." Marissa said as she rubbed her hand. She had no idea what was up with her, but Lauren squeezed her hand way too tight "It's nice to meet you too." _Even if obviously, you've got issues with meeting new people._

There was an awkward silence for a while until Summer decided to break the silence.

"So, who's up for dessert at our place?" she asked as optimistic as she could to avoid the situation from getting even more uncomfortable.

"I am." Seth and Taylor said in unison.

"Yeah, sounds great Sum." Marissa said.

"Sure, I mean that way we can get to know each other a little better, right Marissa?" Lauren said slyly.

"Uhh…yeah sure." Marissa said uncomfortably. She didn't have a good feeling about this.

"Great." Lauren smiled. "Come on, baby." She said as she turned to Ryan. "Afterwards, we can get some real dessert." Lauren said wrapping her arms around his waist.

Marissa couldn't help but feel a tinge of annoyance towards Lauren. She was way too clingy in her opinion and she could already sense that they weren't going to get along very well.

Ryan just stood there too dumbfounded to say anything as he looked between the two girls. The situation was really uncomfortable for him.

"I'll take that as a yes." Lauren said as she pecked him on the cheek. "He's not really much of a talker." She said to Marissa.

Marissa just smiled at her remark. She really hoped that things wouldn't be awkward between them now, especially with Lauren in the picture.

"Okay, time to go." Summer said as she sensed the awkwardness that was growing between them.

They all headed to their respective cars and drove off, all of them having the same thoughts.

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**So I hope you guys liked this chapter….please review so I can post the next one soon!! **

**den**


	10. Chapter 10: The Rivals

**So I decided to update earlier since I've been delaying my posts…please R/R:D**

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"And then I told the bartender to back off because he was really creeping me out, and then he said that he wasn't really a bartender, he was a modeling agent and he wanted to hire me…"

Marissa sat back on her seat and played around with her fork, bored. While they were eating dessert, Lauren decided to tell everyone about how she became a model for some rich clothing company and to be honest it, was boring the hell out of her.

"Not a lot of people get chosen for it either so I was totally flattered…" Lauren droned on.

Marissa wondered when she was gonna stop. Lauren seemed nice but she was really annoying. All she ever talked about ever since they got back was all about her and her "great accomplishments" she was totally showing off and it really did annoy her.

"What's taking Seth and Summer so long?" Marissa said desperately trying to change the subject. "Didn't they say that they were just gonna be a while?"

"Oh, believe me, I don't think they'll be back soon." Taylor said also bored.

"Okay, gross." Ryan said, disgusted at the idea of Seth and Summer doing the deed.

"Umm…okay, that's great and all but I was talking over here." Lauren said annoyed that she was interrupted.

"Oh, right sorry." Marissa said disappointed that her attempt to change the topic backfired.

"It's okay." Lauren said dishonestly, rolling her eyes. "So, Marissa what's your job?"

"I'm an editor in Chic magazine, I'm Summer's new partner actually and we live together now."

"Oh, well that's great." _Ugh, great she's staying here. _ "So you're happy to be back huh?"

"Yeah, I mean I was really scared at first…I didn't really know what was going to happen when I would go back to all of this but almost everything turned out great." Marissa said as everyone smiled at her remark.

"You were scared?" Lauren asked, tactless. "Why? Did you have a bad experience here or something? Drinking? Drugs? Family problems?"

Marissa hung her head low and uncomfortably sat back on her chair. Remembering everything that went on badly in Newport was definitely what she was trying to avoid but that was all ruined now. Ryan had definitely noticed the harshness of Lauren's words and how it affected Marissa.

"Lauren that's enough." Ryan said in a "you're-going-too-far" tone

"What? I'm just asking." Lauren replied like she was innocent.

"That's a bit personal don't you think?" Taylor hissed she had just about enough of her.

"You guys need to chill, seriously." Lauren said showing no interest to their annoyance towards her, she then turned to Ryan. "Sweetie, could you please get me a glass of water, I'm parched."

"Okay" Ryan sighed looking a bit embarrassed at Lauren's behavior. He couldn't understand why she was acting so…different. She was a kind and sweet girl, but now she was just being really self-centered and tactless. He decided to talk about it with her later when they were alone.

"Taylor, maybe you should go with him, I mean this is your house and Ryan might not know his way around here." Lauren said trying to get them to leave her and Marissa alone so she could really start her questioning.

"Well, it's technically Marissa's place too so maybe she should go with him." Taylor said she was also quite fed up with her.

"Nah, you go, me and Marissa have lots to catch up on." Lauren said.

Taylor rolled her eyes on her as she got up from her seat and escorted Ryan to the kitchen. Once, the kitchen door closed Lauren turned to Marissa.

"So, tell me more about yourself." Lauren said trying to make conversation with her.

"Well, there's nothing really much to say." Marissa said, feeling the awkwardness arising again.

"Well, you can start with how you and Ryan became friends." Lauren asked. "How did you get to know each other?"

Marissa was confused on why she was interested in such things but decided to answer her for conversation's sake.

"We went to the same high school." Marissa replied, uneasy about the subject.

"Uhuh," Lauren wanted to get some dirt on their past, she wanted to find out about their romantic relationship, if they even had one but judging from the letter Ryan had wrote, they definitely had something going on between them. "Did you guys ever date?"

Marissa paused for a moment. She was shocked that Lauren would ask a question like that and frankly, she wasn't quite sure on how to answer her question.

"Y-Yeah, we did for a while but we decided that we needed to see other people." Marissa said. "There was just too much drama that got in the way." She felt a bit saddened actually, she was confused about why but deep down she knew why. She was reminded of all the hurt that she went through, all the pain and suffering, the things that she had been avoiding while she was away in Greece.

_I knew there was something._ "Do you…do you still have feelings for him?" Lauren asked.

"Oh, no we've moved on from that." Marissa said assuring Lauren not to worry. Yet she couldn't help but feel that she was lying, it confused her that she felt that way, she was telling the truth right?

"Good," Lauren said relieved. She was happy that there was nothing going on so far but she wasn't completely convinced. "Because if you even try to steal him away from me, I _will _hunt you down and kill you."

Marissa stared at her with fear and confusion. She was REALLY freaking her out and at the same time she was wondering why she would think that she would take Ryan from her, Lauren barely knew her and yet she already had her suspicions about her. She knew there was something else but she decided not to ask about it.

"That's not gonna happen Lauren." Marissa assured her. "It seems like Ryan really cares about you."

"Oh, I know." Lauren said wanting to appear confident to Marissa even if she had her doubts about what she had just said. "I just wanna make sure that no one will get in the way."

They heard the kitchen door open as Ryan and Taylor made their way back from the kitchen.

"Here's your water." Ryan said giving the glass of water to Lauren.

"Thanks babe." Lauren cooed as she took the glass and drank from it.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Ryan asked as he sat down.

Marissa and Lauren looked at each other, obviously trying to find a good lie they can tell him.

"Nothing." They said in unison which made Ryan look very suspicious.

"Really?" Ryan asked raising his brow.

"Yeah, we were just talking about our jobs and stuff." Lauren said.

"Yeah, exactly." Marissa said.

"Okay." Ryan said still not completely convinced.

"Oh, well look at the time." Lauren said obviously trying to get out of the awkward situation. "Time for us to go."

"But-" Ryan started to protest.

"Come on baby." Lauren said as she pulled a stubborn Ryan out of his seat.

"Sorry to be rude you guys." Ryan apologized as he was dragged to the door.

"It's okay, really it is." Taylor said happy to have any excuse for Lauren to get out of their house.

Marissa just stared awkwardly at them. She was actually really happy that Lauren was leaving but she couldn't help but to look back on their…uncomfortable conversation. She was right wasn't she? Lauren had nothing to worry about…right?

"See you guys later!" Lauren said as she closed the door behind her.

Taylor let out a sigh of relief when the door closed.

"Well thank god, she's gone." Taylor said to Marissa. "I dunno about you but I was ready to kick her annoying ass, and it's weird because she's usually really nice but she was such an annoying bitch."

"Well, maybe she's not really like that." Marissa said.

"Really? After the way she treated you? Making you feel like dirt and practically insulting you about you know, your past?" 

"I didn't have a really good first impression of her." Marissa sighed. "But first impressions don't last right?" 

"I hope so." Taylor said. "The last thing we need is another bitch coming into our lives…" Taylor and Marissa both looked up when they heard Seth and Summer walk into the room.

Their hair was a mess and their clothes were really messed up as well. Summer's lipstick was smudged and the same thing happened for her make-up. Marissa and Taylor looked at them with a raised brow, knowing what they did.

"Uh…hey guys….what's up?" Summer said trying to look innocent.

"Save it, we already know what you guys did." Taylor said.

Seth and Summer blushed with embarrassment, Seth decided to leave before things get even more embarrassing.

"Okay, I'll go now." Seth said as he gave Summer a quick kiss and rushed out the door.

Once Seth had left, Summer turned to the two of them.

"So, what did I miss?" she asked.

"Oh, you have got to sit down for this one…." Taylor said devilishly as Marissa was obviously uneasy about it.

"Alright then." Summer said as she sat down. "Tell me everything."

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**Please review!  
**

**den**


	11. Chapter 11: The Apology

**I am sooo sorry for not updating for any of my fics you guys!! I really appreciate the reviews though you guys are awesome!! I've been so busy with school and stuff that I hven't had the time to update but I'll be updating tomorrow again and hopefully soon after that :D hope you like this one!**

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"What the hell was that Lauren?"

Ryan and Lauren were driving out of Summer, Taylor and Marissa's place and Ryan couldn't take Lauren's unusual behavior anymore. He wanted to know why she was acting so rude, he had never seen her like this before and he wanted to know what exactly ticked her off.

"What do you mean?" Lauren asked innocently. She knew that Ryan would suspect something, but she just decided to act as if nothing had happened.

"I mean your how you acted back there, I mean it was like you were a different person."

"I don't know." Lauren said indifferently.

"Oh, I think you know." Ryan said. "What's gotten into you? All you talked about was about yourself, which by the way never happened before."

"I guess I was just trying telling them about my accomplishments." Lauren said. "Is it a crime to be proud about what you've done in your life?"

"You hated that job in the modeling agency." Ryan said. "And if I remember correctly, your exact words were, I NEVER wanna have anything to do with modeling ever again."

"Well, I was just trying to impress that new girl I guess." Lauren said pretending not to know Marissa's name.

"Marissa?" Ryan asked, now really confused. It confused him that Lauren was acting really weird when Marissa was around, it was like she wanted to prove that she was better than her and that was what got Ryan worried. 'Why do you need to impress her?"

Lauren shrugged. "Because…" she hesitated, trying to come up with a good excuse. "She thinks she's better than me."

"What?" Ryan asked in shock. "How would you know?" 

"It was in the way she talked to me." Lauren said, trying to come up with a good excuse. "I mean, did you see how she interrupted me while I was talking about my modeling job? That was so rude of her."

"Well, you weren't exactly polite either since you didn't give anyone the chance to talk about anything else." Ryan said, Lauren simply rolled her eyes, since she knew that what Ryan said was true. "What do you have against her anyways? You guys just met and you already seem to hate her guts."

"I dunno," she shrugged. "I just don't trust her okay." She said frustrated, getting fed up with Ryan's questions.

Ryan sighed, he really didn't know what was wrong with his girlfriend. "I'm just worried about you, you've been acting…different."

"It's nothing baby, I promise." Lauren tried to reassure him as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I really appreciate you being concerned about me though."

They reached Lauren's place which wasn't really that far away. Ryan pulled over in front of the house.

"Just promise me something okay?" Ryan asked before she left.

"Sure baby, anything." Lauren said flirtatiously as her smile widened.

"Please apologize to them."

Lauren's smile immediately dropped. She definitely didn't want to apologize to Marissa, but if she wanted her and Ryan to be in good terms, she would have to at least pretend to be nice to her.

"Sure." Lauren said as she quickly kissed him before getting out of the car.

"Thanks babe." Ryan said. "I'll call you later?"

"Yeah, bye." Lauren said as she waved at him and walked into her house.

Ryan watched as she disappeared behind her front door. Although he knew that Lauren wasn't the kind of girl who broke her promises, he couldn't help but get the feeling that she wouldn't follow through with her apology. He decided that he would have to do it himself, in case she wouldn't do it. He drove off, thinking that he would come by Marissa's place tonight.

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"So, where exactly are we going again?" Summer asked her boyfriend. They were in Seth's car, on their way to some work-related place Seth needed to go to. Summer offered to stay behind but Seth insisted that she would come.

"Well, if I told you it wouldn't be much of a surprise would it?" Seth said mischievously.

"Cohen, we both know that you can't keep a secret." Summer said.

"Good point." Seth said in defeat. "But you have to promise not to freak out."

"Yeah, now spill." Summer said eager to find out about what Seth had in store for her.

"Okay." Seth sighed. "There's this party that my boss is throwing for us because of our creation getting the title of the best selling graphic novel."

"Oh, my god Cohen that's great!" Summer exclaimed as she hugged him.

"Thanks." Seth said. "So anyways, that's where we're going…and well…I decided that it was time for me to introduce

"Wait, what?" Summer said in shock. "No way am I meeting your boss, he's just gonna think that I'm some sort of shallow girl who doesn't know anything about comic books."

"Graphic novels."

"Whatever."

"Hey, you said you weren't gonna freak out."

"Yeah, well that was before I found out what you had planned." She said crossing her arms. "The point is, I can't go there, I'm just going to embarrass you in front of your co-workers." She said as she looked down in shame. She knew that she wasn't exactly as smart as they were there and she was just afraid that she would be an embarrassment.

"Summer," Seth said as he took her hand in his. "You're not shallow, okay? In fact, you're really smart, I mean you got a job to be one of the most respected fashion editors in the industry that has to count for something right? Besides, they'll love you just the way you are, I know they will."

Summer looked up at him and smiled at his kind words. "How are you so sure that they would like me?"

"Because I do." Seth smiled at her. "A lot."

She smiled at his cuteness. "Shut up." She teased him.

"Well, I meant it." Seth smiled widely.

"Thanks." Summer said as she gave him a soft kiss.

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Jimmy walked into his small room in his boat after a long day of work. It was already half past six in the evening and he was dead tired. He stumbled onto the bed and just lay there, enjoying the soft cushions. He closed his eyes, hoping to relax and maybe even take a nap, business was going really well, he had just sold a couple more boats and some fishing supplies to some wealthy sailors and made a lot of money doing so. Although he was quite lonely with Marissa gone, he knew that she would've been proud of him.

He let out a sigh as a smile crept across his face with content. He was about to drift off to sleep when he was interrupted by his phone ringing. He decided to ignore it, hoping that the ringing would stop, but it kept going and it kept him awake. He groaned as he got up from his bed to answer the phone and get rid of whoever was calling.

"Hello?"

"Hey dad, it's me."

"Hey kiddo." Jimmy said happily from the other line. He was really hoping that Marissa would call him soon, and hearing her voice again just made his day. "It's really good to hear from you."

"Yeah, same here dad." Marissa smiled, she really missed her dad, and decided that it was time to give him a call.

"Wow, I was starting to think that you weren't going to call."

"I did say that I was going to keep in touch." Marissa said.

"Yeah, glad to hear it." Jimmy said. "So how's everything back there? Any new scandals just waiting to be discovered? Or are they already discovered?"

"No dad." Marissa laughed. "Actually, everything's going better than I expected, well I mean nothing drastic has happened so far."

"I told you it'll be alright." Jimmy said. "So how's your mom? Caitlin? Summer? Ryan?

"Everyone and everything's great dad." Marissa said. _Except that Ryan's new girlfriend was a pain in the ass._

"Well, I'm just checking in you never know, someone might turn out to be taking drugs or secretly pregnant or something."

"Dad!"

"What? We _are_ talking about Newport right?"

"Yeah." Marissa started to say, she heard the doorbell ring and walked towards the door while she had the phone in one hand and used the other to open the door. "But as much as I hate to admit it, you might be right, things are different now, I mean, it seems that things are going to be really…"

Marissa paused for a while when she saw Ryan standing outside the door.

"…different." Marissa finished her sentence. "Listen dad, I have to go but I'll call you back okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Jimmy said. "I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah, bye dad." Marissa said as she hung up. She turned to Ryan who was still in the doorway.

"Uhh…hey." Ryan said awkwardly.

"Hey." She said.

"Sorry to interrupt your phone call."

"It's okay, I needed to go make dinner anyways." She replied.

"That was your dad right?" Ryan asked confused. "I thought he was in Greece."

"Yeah, he is." Marissa said. "I promised him that I would call, you know to tell him all about how things are going here in Newport."

"Oh." Ryan couldn't help but think back when they used to have the same phone calls while Marissa was away in Greece. They had lost contact though mainly because they both couldn't take it anymore. It was just too hard.

"So, what are you doing here?"

Ryan looked back at her as he snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, well I wanted to apologize for Lauren's….umm…inappropriate behavior earlier."

Marissa shifted her weight on one leg to the other, feeling uncomfortable.

Ryan could sense that she was uneasy with the subject. "She….wasn't herself a while ago…she had a really bad day today and it was unfair that she took it out on you guys."

Marissa nodded. "It's okay, I understand." As much as she didn't like Lauren, she really appreciated Ryan's efforts to make things right with them. It just annoyed her that Lauren couldn't do it herself.

Ryan just nodded as she spoke, which was followed by a long silence. He could sense their distance from one another, it was probably because of the time apart they had in the past few years. They have evolved into much more mature people that they had been before. He knew that it would take time for them to get to know one another again.

"So, is Summer and Taylor here?" Ryan asked, breaking the silence. "I guess I owe them an apology too."

"No actually, Summer's been out with Seth the whole day, something about Seth's new comic book launch party." Marissa explained. "And Taylor's out on a date with Lance."

"Oh, I figured they weren't since I don't hear any yelling or screaming." He smiled as he peered inside the apartment.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Marissa said remembering her manners as she stepped aside. "Do you wanna come in?"

"No, it's alright….actually…I think I have a better idea." Ryan said with a smirk on his face as an idea popped inside his head. "Grab your sweater, we're going somewhere."

"But, I haven't even started making dinner."

"We'll grab dinner along the way." Ryan said getting pretty excited.

"O-Okay." Marissa said reluctantly. She was quite confused on what Ryan was up to but she decided to go with it. She ran to her room to quickly grab a sweater and reappeared at the front door where Ryan was waiting for her.

"Let's go." Ryan said. He appeared to be in a hurry.

"Wait," Marissa said. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Well, I figured that you've been away from Newport way too long, so I think it's time for me to show you around again." Ryan said as he opened the car door for her. He quickly went over to his side and got settled in his seat as well as he started the car.

"But, where are we going?" Marissa asked curiously.

"You'll see." Ryan said as he drove off.

Marissa just smiled and decided to sit back and enjoy their little trip. She really needed this, an opportunity to get to know each other again and to see the town that she left behind four years ago. After all, it could be fun.

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**I have a feeling you guys will like the next chapter wink wink lol anyways please review! I'll be updating tomorrow!! ;p**

**den**


	12. Chapter 12: The Memories We Still Keep

**Here's the next chapter as promised! Next update will vary on the number of reviews :D (no pressure ;p) hope you like the fluff in this!!! **

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"Are you sure about this?"

Summer looked at the wide spaced room in front of them as they entered the comic book launch. She was starting to have second thoughts about the whole "meet-my-boyfriend's-boss" thing. She saw a lot of people who were coming up to Seth and congratulating him on his comic book and she started feeling a bit out of place.

"You know we can always go back to my place or something." She was desperately hoping to get out of the awkward situation she was in.

"Summer, it really means a lot to me that you would be here." Seth said trying to make her feel less tense.

Summer gave him the best smile that she could muster at that moment. "Okay, then I'll stay."

Seth smiled back at her, appreciating her efforts to stay. They were soon joined by a group of Seth's co-workers and a tall man who was holding the new comic book. Summer guessed that this was Seth's boss.

"Seth, I have to hand it to you, this is pure genius." Seth's boss said as he held up the comic book he was holding. "After reading your 'Atomic County' edition I thought that there couldn't possibly be another one that can be as good but clearly you proved me wrong."

"Thank you sir, that really means a lot to me." Seth said obviously proud of his work. "But I seriously couldn't have done it without your help."

"Don't be so modest, I just put your work on paper, it turned to a huge success because of you."

"Thank you sir."

"And who's this?" Seth's boss asked, as he finally noticed Summer, who was standing nervously next to Seth.

"This is my girlfriend, Summer Roberts." Seth said. "Summer, this is my boss, Patrick Ramsey."

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir." Summer said offering her hand nervously to the middle-aged man.

"Likewise, Summer." He replied warmly as he shook her hand.

Summer smiled back nervously. _This might not be so bad. _

"So I hear from Seth that you work at Chic magazine?" he replied quite seriously. "Isn't that the magazine that started the whole controversy about our company causing their readers to prevent everyone from reading our products?"

Summer's smile immediately dropped. _I spoke too soon. _A year ago, the magazine had a very bitchy editor-in-chief who made a segment about how much comic books were a waste of time which made Seth's company suffer. After Summer's former boss had left Chic, Melissa had taken her place and the magazine has been doing well ever since, but obviously Seth's boss didn't forget about the scandal.

"S-Sir I assure you that it was a mistake." Summer started to explain nervously. "You see my former boss was-"

"It's alright Summer," Patrick chuckled at her reaction. "Seth told me everything, no hard feelings here."

"Oh." She replied looking at Seth then back at Patrick.

"Linda, will you please show Miss Roberts here, our newest collection?" Patrick asked a tall blonde wearing glasses who had a notebook clutched in her hand.

"Of course." She replied, leading Summer to the other side of the room.

Once Summer and Linda were at a certain distance away from them, Patrick turned to Seth.

"So she's the girl you were telling me about?"

"Yes sir."

"Hmm, she's nice." Patrick said as they both looked at Summer who was listening and following Linda around the room.

"Oh, she is sir." Seth replied. "She has a great personality once you get to know her."

"I see." Patrick nodded. "So you're sure about what you'll be doing?"

"More than anything."

"And why would you want my advice on this?"

"Because I respect your judgement sir, you've been a great mentor and friend to me and you've been like a father figure to me through all these years." Seth replied.

"I don't think Sandy will be too happy about that." Patrick and Seth chuckled. "But yes, you've been like a son to me as well."

"Thanks sir, but I don't think that Tyler would be too happy about that." Seth teased as he spoke of his five year old son. Patrick laughed a bit before going back to their conversation.

"I think that you're making a good decision Seth." Patrick nodded. "But are you sure it's what you want?"

Seth smiled and looked back at Summer who was now laughing with Linda, obviously doing a good job of socializing with her. Her smile and laugh were just a few of those things that made Seth realize that he could never let go of her. He turned back to face his boss.

"Absolutely."

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"This is pretty good."

Ryan and Marissa were walking along the beach, eating their balboa bars.

"What is?" Ryan asked as he licked off the side of his ice cream.

"Eating at the diner, having balboa bars for dessert, and taking a stroll along the beach." Marissa said. "It really does bring up old memories."

"Good ones I hope."

"Definitely." Marissa smiled.

"Good." Ryan said as he smiled back at her. "That's what you need right now."

"You wanted to make me remember the countless times we spent here?"

"You can say that." Ryan replied. "I also wanted to show you around again, just in case you already forgot about what it was like to live here."

"I definitely didn't forget." Marissa said. "But I'm glad you did this." 

"So am I."

They smiled at each other for a while, just simply trying to enjoy each other's company. It had been a long time since they had hung out together without any drama, no issues, no scandals, no fights, just plain and simple Ryan and Marissa time. It had been a long time since they hung out as just friends, there always seemed to be something going on between them and they never really figured out why. Being away from all the sadness and the pain they felt during their relationship felt nice, and for at least a single moment, maybe they could try to be friends.

"So where do we go next?" Marissa asked.

Ryan thought for a while. Marissa saw a smile appear on his face.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, I just had an idea." Ryan said.

"You seem to be full of ideas today." Marissa said as she smiled at him.

"Come on," Ryan said as he grabbed Marissa's hand and started walking. "I have to show you something."

"Whoa, Ryan slow down." Marissa said as Ryan pulled her along the beach. She could see some people who were staring at them like they were crazy but they didn't care. As they walked further into the beach, it seemed like the amount of people they saw became less and less until they didn't see any other person in the beach at all. They finally stopped in front of something.

In front of them was what seemed like a little house or something, but Marissa couldn't see what it was since it was covered in a big white cloth of some sort.

"Okay, so you wanted to show me a huge piece of cloth?"

"No" Ryan laughed a little as he approached it. He began taking the cloth of to reveal what it was hiding beneath it.

Marissa watched carefully as Ryan slowly revealed what was underneath. At first, she couldn't quite see what it was since it was so dark, but as she moved closer towards it she suddenly realized what it was.

"Oh, my god…"

She couldn't help but feel so emotional at that point. She could feel her eyes welling up with tears. Right there, right in front of her very eyes was the one place that she had found refuge in, the place where she ran to every time she needed to think or when she had a problem, the one place where she truly felt safe in.

"I-It's the lifeguard stand?"

"Yeah," Ryan said smiling. "I hope those are tears of joy."

"It is." Marissa said as she wiped them away. "I just, can't believe that it's still here after all theses years."

"Well, it wasn't supposed to be."

Marissa turned to him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I-It's better if you don't know." Ryan said nervously.

"Please tell me." Marissa pleaded.

"Alright, alright." Ryan smiled, giving in. "Only because I can't resist your puppy pouts."

"I know." Marissa giggled triumphantly.

"They wanted to renovate this beach a few years ago, and they wanted to demolish the lifeguard stand to make room for more restaurants or stores or something like that."

"What?" Marissa asked a bit shocked. "So what changed their minds?"

"I sort of argued with them about it, I told them that it would have to stay." Ryan said. "They weren't exactly the easiest people to talk to but with the help of Kirsten and Sandy we were able to convince them to keep it."

Marissa couldn't help but smile at the sweet gesture. "You didn't have to do that you know."

"I know," Ryan blushed as he looked away in embarrassment. "But I knew that it was important to you and well, I wanted it to still be here when you came back from Greece."

Without saying a word, Marissa hugged him tightly. Ryan was a bit surprised by it but eventually eased into the hug and wrapped his arms around her. They both just savored the moment for a while before separating.

"Thank you." Marissa said.

Ryan simply smiled and nudged his head towards the lifeguard stand. "Wanna sit?"

Marissa smiled and nodded as they both made their way up the ramp. Marissa ran her hand through the rough railings. She could feel the paint being chipped off the wood, and the whole thing just showing signs that it had been there for quite a while untouched, but it was the same old lifeguard stand that she ran to when she needed to.

She sat down in her usual place in there, as Ryan sat next to her. She saw the moonlight reflecting perfectly in the ocean, making the sea waves shine and glimmer as the sand on the shore sparkled like glitter. She smiled at the perfect view. This was one of the few things that she loved about this place. She watched as a few seagulls flew in the air, probably going off to sleep as they passed by the twinkling stars above. She let out a deep sigh as she slowly closed her eyelids. She felt the cool breeze lightly touching her face and through her hair, she smelled the ocean scent that eased her insides. After all these years, she had almost forgotten why she even loved this place but now, the answer was right in front of her, never to leave her sight again.

Ryan looked at his side to see a very peaceful Marissa, obviously enjoying the view. He smiled as he saw her slowly open her eyes again.

"What are you thinking?" he asked so soft that it was so close to a whisper.

"Nothing." She replied. "I just really missed this."

Marissa felt the warmth of Ryan's hand as he placed his over hers. He smiled at her making her feel all fuzzy inside, his smile always had that effect on her and apparently, even after all these years it hasn't changed.

"So did I."

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**A bit short compared to the others but the next ones are pretty lengthy…**

**Reviews will make me happy and will speed up the updates ;p hope you liked the S/S and R/M in this chappie :D**

…

**Ryissa and Sethummer forever!!! (lol just had to say it xD) **

**den**


	13. Chapter 13: The New Guy

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait…I was actually kind of experiencing a writer's block and I wasn't getting any more reviews so I thought that no one cared about this fic anymore ******** nut then I got some reviews and it truly inspired me to write again ******

**thank you for all those who reviewed and I hope you enjoy this next chappy! This one's for you guys ;)**

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Taylor walked into the kitchen to see Summer over the kitchen stove, preparing their usual breakfast, bacon and eggs. "Morning." Taylor greeted her groggily as she pulled out a chair to sit on.

"Morning Taylor." Summer greeted, as she fried some eggs. "So what's it gonna be? Scrambled, sunny-side up or hard boiled?"

"Just throw in a bit of everything on mine." Taylor said taking a sip of her coffee.

"Okay then." Summer said as she cracked a couple of eggs into the frying pan.

The only sound in the room was the sizzling sound the eggs made while Summer fried them until the girls heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. They looked to see a sleepy Marissa in her PJ's walking towards the round table and taking a seat next to Taylor.

"Morning Coop." Summer said. "So, what do you want for breakfast today?"

"I'll just have whatever you guys are having." Marissa yawned.

"Okay." Summer said quite cheerily as she started placing the eggs on their plates.

"So Marissa, where were you last night? I mean I got home and you weren't here." Taylor asked Marissa as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah Coop, where did you go?" Summer said as she brought their breakfast to the table and sat next to Marissa.

"Umm…I went out, to take a walk on the beach…with Ryan." Marissa said unsure about the last part of her sentence.

Summer almost choked on her coffee when she heard Marissa say that she went out with Ryan. "You went out with Atwood?"

"Like on a date?" Taylor asked with a big mischievous smile on her face. She was just as interested as Summer was.

"No, it wasn't a date." Marissa objected. "He just wanted to apologize for the way Lauren acted yesterday."

"Oh, well from what you guys told me, it sounds like she was a real bitch yesterday." Summer said. "I wonder why though, she's usually really nice."

"Whatever, she was acting like a real skank." Taylor said as she rolled her eyes.

"Still, I don't get why Atwood had to apologize for her." Summer said.

Marissa shrugged. "Maybe Lauren didn't feel like apologizing."

"Or maybe he wanted to spend some 'quality time' with you." Taylor said raising her brow.

"It's not like that." Marissa said knowing what Taylor's suspicions were. "He just wanted to catch up on everything I guess."

"Uhuh, sure." Summer said sarcastically.

"Well, what about you how did the comic book party go?" Marissa said changing the topic.

"Everything went great actually." Summer said. "In fact, I got to meet Seth's boss."

Marissa and Taylor exchanged looks and Summer definitely noticed. "What?" Summer asked.

"So, he introduced you to his boss huh?" Taylor said. "So how did that go?"

"You guys think that I'm too shallow to meet Seth's boss right?" Summer said suspiciously.

"No." Marissa and Taylor said in unison.

"Well, if you must know it actually went pretty well." Summer said. "I mean yeah, it was sort of awkward, especially when he found out about the incident about the magazine article and their comic book company but apparently Seth had explained the whole thing to him and he was cool with it."

"Ooh, I remember that, it really got you into a big mess with Seth and his company…that really caused a really rough time in your relationship, I mean things got so bad that I could have sworn that you guys would-"

"Thanks Taylor for the trip down memory lane but I'd rather not." Summer said cutting Taylor off.

"Wait, what scandal with Seth?" Marissa asked totally confused.

"Well, before Melissa became the editor-in-chief, there was this really bitchy editor who was like totally bossing Summer all the time and she was the one who started the whole thing, funny thing was Summer took most of the blame since she and Seth-"

"Taylor." Summer said warningly.

"Right sorry, just trying to fill Marissa in on everything that's happened." Taylor said. "Besides it's interesting to talk about your relationship, there's always something going on between you and Seth."

"Speaking of relationships, how's yours?" Summer asked raising her brow. "What happened on your date with Lance last night?"

"Yeah, Taylor what happened between you guys?" Marissa asked as she tok a sip of her coffee.

"Fine, if you must know we had a nice romantic candlelight dinner at his balcony." Taylor said dreamily. "It's got this beautiful view of the ocean and it really set the mood when we decided to get into his bedroom and let me tell you, his body is just-"

"Oh my gosh, look at the time." Marissa said interrupting Taylor as she got up and started walking towards the bathroom. "Better get in the shower or I'll be late for work."

"Yeah me too." Summer said gathering their dirty dishes and dumping them in the sink. "Melissa gets really mad when we're late."

"Wait, you guys I'm not finished yet." Taylor whined.

"Sorry Taylor, but we have jobs to go to." Summer said as she rushed to her room to pick out her outfit for the day.

"Oh, I know what this is all about." Taylor said. "You guys don't wanna hear about the passionate night me and Lance shared, well you guys are just jealous that I have a very active sex life."

"Yeah, one that we don't want to know about." Summer shouted from her room.

"It's not even that late." Taylor scoffed as she checked her watch and saw that it was already quarter to eight. "Oh, crap I'm late!"

Taylor rushed to get her things in her room.

"Told you!" Summer said from across the hall.

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"Hello?"

"Lauren dear?" a middle-aged voice said through Lauren's cell phone. "It's me, mom."

"Oh, it's you." Lauren said bitterly. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to ask how things are going with you." She said. "So how is everything?"

"You can't possibly think that I'm that stupid to fall for that." Lauren scoffed.

"Lauren, I honestly don't know what you're talking about."

"Please mom, drop the act."

"Why do you have to be so cynical about things? I'm just trying to keep up with your life, you know it's been almost a year since we had talked." 

"Nine months, mother." Lauren replied. "Look, I really don't have time for this. Ryan's gonna be here soon and-"

"How's Ryan? Is he doing well?" Ryan had often visited Lauren's house when they were hanging out on weekends since Lauren's house was pretty near Berkeley. Her mother saw a lot of Ryan and grew fond of him.

"Yeah, he's great."

"That's good to know." She said. "So what's going on between you two now? I know you've always had a thing for him."

"Well, if you must know Ryan and I are dating now."

"Oh, Lauren that's great! He's such a nice boy….and I could tell that you really like him…so, where is he now?"

"I dunno mom." Lauren said impatiently. "Still in bed I guess."

"At this time of day? Why is he still sleeping? Is he sick or something?" Lauren's mother asked in a concerned tone.

"No, I guess he's just tired."

"Oh, I see." She said in a mischievous tone. "So you two had a long night huh? Didn't get any sleep? I know it's a bit weird to ask, especially since I'm your mother but how was it?"

"Mom!" Lauren said embarrassed. "We didn't do that okay?" Ryan went out last night."

"Really? Where to?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Lauren asked bitterly, she didn't like her mother poking her head into her personal life.

"Oh my god, he went out with another girl didn't he?" she said. "I mean, he's a great guy but I knew that something like this would happen."

"Mom, nothing happened." Lauren said annoyingly to the phone. "And I promise you that Ryan did not go anywhere with another girl last night."

"Well, if he's anything like your father then he probably was, then you'll have another failed relationship to add to your collection."

"He's nothing like that sorry excuse of a father." Lauren said bitterly.

"Lauren, don't talk about your father like that!"

"Why not? It's true isn't it? Lauren said. "Don't pretend like you don't remember what he did mom."

Lauren heard her mother let out a deep sigh from the other end of the phone line. "You have to forgive us someday."

"You think I'm a failure don't you mom?"

"What? No of course not."

"That's what you always say but I know you do." Lauren said. "And don't try to pretend that we're some perfect family because you know we're not and we never were even before dad left us."

"Lauren, what are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Lauren said, her eyes starting to fill up with tears. "You know what, I don't even want to talk about it."

"Lauren I-"

"Why did you call me anyways? To check up on me and Ryan's relationship so you can criticize later and go on and on about how everything in my life turns out to be a complete disaster?" Lauren said, tears already falling down her face rapidly. "Well, you're wrong mom, Ryan loves me and he won't dare cheat on me with another girl, and if you have any other plans on pointing out my mistakes in life don't bother calling me again!"

Lauren pressed a button on her phone, ending the call. She slammed her phone on her kitchen table. She ran he hand through her long blonde hair as she thought of what her family had put her through, all the things she had to go through to get to where she was now. Although it was years, maybe a decade ago the memory was still so vivid in her mind…

"_Martha, what the hell?"_

_A tall man, probably in his late thirties or early forties threw a bottle of wine against the wall causing it to shatter to pieces. A 10-year old Lauren walks into the room and is terrified by the sight of her mother crying and her father furious._

"_Mom? Dad? What's going on?" she asked shakily._

"_Go back to bed Lauren." Her father said sternly._

_Lauren found herself frozen to the spot in terror. It wasn't the first time this had happened, in fact her parents have been fighting for quite a while and it only became worse and worse every time it happened. She continued to watch the terrible scene in front of her. She started sobbing, taking in the overwhelming tragic reality of her family. _

"_I never should have left Rachel for you! I loved her and she loved me! I married you because you got pregnant and I was doing the honorable thing, but now I can't stand it anymore!"_

"_John, please!" Lauren saw her mother in agony, tears rolling down her face uncontrollably._

"_No Martha, I'm done, we're done." He replied. "We have to stop lying to ourselves and start doing the right thing for once damn it!"_

"_W-What are you trying to say?" she asked in a slurring voice in fear of the answer they both already knew._

_John sighed heavily, like he was finally getting something out of his chest. He looked at his wife straight in the eye, his anger momentarily faded and with nothing but sincerity in his eyes._

"_I want a divorce."_

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"Summer? Marissa?"

Melissa knocked on Summer and Marissa's office door and slowly opened it to see if they were there. She saw them sitting on their respective tables doing some paperwork. They soon noticed that their boss was in the room and immediately stopped what they were doing and stood up to greet her.

"How's the article so far?" Melissa asked.

"It's great so far." Summer answered. "Do you need it now?"

"No, actually I came here for something else."

"Good." Marissa sighed in relief. "Because it's far from finished."

"Well I'm glad that you guys are working harmoniously together." Melissa smiled. "So anyways, you guys have heard about one of our photographers resignation right?"

"Yeah, it's really sad." Summer replied. "I'm gonna miss good old Gus, I mean he was the funniest guy here and he takes the best shots of Orlando Bloom…shirtless" Summer added seductively.

"Might I remind you of a certain boyfriend of yours that would completely go mad over this obsession of yours of celebrity men?" Melissa raised her brow.

"_Hot _celebrity men."

Melissa shot her a look.

"I see your point." Summer hastened to say in defeat.

"Anyways, he was one of our best photographers, it's a shame that you weren't able to get to know him Marissa."

"I'm sure it would have been a pleasure to know him." Marissa said.

"Well, I need to ask you guys for a favor, you see I've already hired someone to take his place and well, it's his first day today and he doesn't really know his way around here so you guys will just have to show him around."

"Sure, we can do that right Coop?"

"Yeah, of course." Marissa said in agreement.

"Thanks you guys, I'm really grateful that you guys are willing to do this." Melissa said. "He's actually waiting inside my office so why don't I just go get him?

"Sure, we'll be right here." Summer said.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Melissa said as she walked out of the room with her five-inch stilettos clacking out the door.

"I swear that was probably the tenth photographer to leave." Summer sighed as she fixed some of the papers sitting on her desk. "I dunno what it is about that job that they hate so much, I mean you'd think they'd like the fact that they could get close to a celebrity without getting mobbed by bodyguards and dragged out in the cold dusty sidewalk which by the way, is totally unfair I mean, come on do they have any idea how hard it is to get a taxi in the middle of the day?...Not that I know of, I mean I'm not the uh….obsessive type."

Marissa gave her a look. "Not the obsessive type? May I remind you of a certain T.V. drama series that you were crazily obsessed with back then?"

"I get my 'fan girl' moments too." Summer said in her defense. "Besides, I'll have you know even if I am a little over twenty, and The Valley still gets to me every time. What can I say? That show is timeless." Summer said, her hand placed over her heart which matched her dramatic tone.

Marissa smiled at her friend. "Let's just hope that the person Melissa hires is just as umm…talented…as Gus so he can get you your precious Orlando pictures."

"And Jude Law." Summer added as Marissa gave her another look. "What? They're both hot." Marissa simply smiled at her friend's girlish fantasies.

"I hope he's a nice guy." Marissa said as she peered through the translucent walls.

"Melissa hires the same kind of guy for this job all the time." Summer informed. "He's probably middle-aged, has thinning hair, drives a bandwagon,

Before Summer could finish, they heard Melissa's stilettos clacking once again towards their direction and shortly, she appeared in front of them with a guy beside her, about their age. He was very well tailored, his dark brown hair complemented his blue eyes perfectly and his suit was tight at all the right places.

"-and is totally hot." Summer finished.

"Ladies, this is Nicholas West, he'll be our new photographic director."

"It's really nice to meet you." Summer said quite flirtatiously. Marissa elbowed her reminding her that she was already in a relationship of her own to flirt with other men.

"Yeah, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. West, this is my partner, Summer and I'm Marissa." Marissa introduced for the both of them. He smiled warmly at her and took her hand in his and shook it.

"Call me Nick." Marissa couldn't help but stare when their eyes had met. His eyes weren't the usually piercing blue. They had a hint of gray in them, a sort of cloudy blue type. There was something about them that was so interesting and somewhat mysterious, almost like there was something hidden behind them and it truly intrigued her.

"Uh, Coop?"

"Yeah?" Marissa snapped out of her trance and she felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she did not realize that she and Nick had been having eye contact the entire time. She also noticed that her hand was still lingering in his and immediately released it. "Sorry bout that." She apologized.

"It's alright." Nick said as he flashed her another smile. "It's um…it's kind of cute actually." Marissa bit her lip and fidgeted on her feet as she felt the tension rising in the room. Nick obviously noticed it as well and tried to correct his mistake.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so um…frank." Nick apologized. "Sort of blurted it out, I guess." 

Marissa laughed. "Don't be sorry, It's kind of cute." She mimicked him playfully. She shot him a warm smile as he smiled in appreciation in return.

"Well, I'm glad you're getting along." Melissa remarked. "Girls, I think you can take it from here, I'll be in my office if any of you need me." She added as she disappeared out the door.

"So, would you ladies care to join me for lunch? Melissa did say it was our lunch break and we can get to know each other more." Nick said. "Besides, I've worked up an appetite and I'm sure you guys are pretty hungry by now."

"Actually I'm all tied up today." Summer replied. She raised her brow as an idea popped into her head. Of all the years of spending time in her house with Julie Cooper, she has learned the ways of manipulation and she wasn't going to put them to waste. "But I'm sure Marissa could go with you, right Coop?"

"You sure you don't need any help?" Marissa asked. "We could wait for you," she added before turning to Nick. "I mean, if that's okay." Nick nodded in response.

"No, I'm fine you guys, seriously." Summer said. "Go on, especially you Coop, God knows when was the last time you ate."

Marissa scoffed. "I eat."

"Okay." Summer said in a disbelieving tone.

"Summer's right." Nick perked up. "We should go get something to eat."

"Thank you." Summer said.

"Are you sure it's okay with you though?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, I'm a big girl, I'll be fine." She answered. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up later."

"Okay then." Marissa said as she turned towards Nick.

"Madame? Shall we?" Nick held the door for Marissa as she softly thanked him before walking out of the room.

Summer glanced back and forth at the two before they disappeared from the room as she smiled mischievously to herself. Maybe the possibility of a love triangle between Ryan, Lauren and Marissa wouldn't be such a problem after all.

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**Please R/R:D I'll be giving more priority to this fic btw so expect sooner posts, once again depending on your reviews ******

**den**


	14. Chapter 14: The Suspicions

Hey guys, first off let me say, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!

Okay so, yeah I know that was a pretty late greeting but hey, better late than never right? xD I'm sorry for the lack of updates so far, I had a bit of a writer's block in the past year but one of my new year's resolutions is to be a better writer ;p and voila! Out popped an update!! LOL I guess you can say that I am officially off the writer's block xD

Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you guys and thanks So much for the reviews!! I love them all!!! (and I'm sure I'll love future reviews as well ;D)

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"Hey man."

"Hey." Seth acknowledged, a drawing pen on his hand and his eyes attached to the piece of paper that was on his desk.

Ryan took a seat across Seth. "So did it go yesterday with Summer and that office party you had?" 

"Yeah, there was a little friction between them, you know with the whole magazine scandal but Summer won him over at the end." Seth smiled. "Plus, they gave me a certificate of recognition for all my hard work on the new comic."

"That's great man." Ryan replied.

"Hey, Lauren and I are gonna head out soon to grab some lunch, you wanna come with us?"

"Nah, thanks for the offer though but I don't wanna intrude on you guys now that you're a couple." Seth said. "Besides, I've got other plans."

"Other plans?" Ryan raised his brow. "Is there something you wanna tell me Seth?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that you've been having a lot of 'other plans' lately."

Seth shot Ryan a look. "Well, I've gotta say I'm impressed man I mean, you'd think that now that you have your own relationship to attend to you'd totally be centered around your problems."

"Lauren and I are just fine, thanks. Besides, if that were the case I'd be turning into you." Ryan smirked. "And, you and I both know that you can't keep a secret."

Seth fidgeted, obviously struggling with his weak resistance. He glanced at his watch "Alright, alright." He caved. "But this is only because you're my best friend and I think that you deserve to know."

"Nah, it's alright buddy." Ryan patted him on the back. "If it really is that much of a secret that you've been able to keep it this long then you don't have to tell me.

"Yes I do." Seth protested. "I know that by saying this I may lose all the dignity I have left inside of me but I'm desperate."

"Really Seth, it's fine." Ryan replied. "I'll find out about it anyways sooner or later right? I mean, this is Orange County."

"No you don't understand, keeping this secret is _killing_ me, and right now you're the only one who can lift this rather heavy burned from my aching shoulders."

Ryan gave Seth a questioning look. "A little too dramatic don't you think?"

"But you're not telling _anyone_." Seth said ignoring Ryan's comment.

Ryan smiled. "I won't. Now spill."

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"Are you heading out Taylor?" 

"Yeah, but hey thanks for all the help Alexis!" Taylor exclaimed. She quickly flashed a smile to the red head before retreating to her make-up bag putting on her finishing touches.

"No problem. You seem jittery today," Alexis commented. "Well, more than usual at the least."

"Really? Haven't noticed." Taylor giggled as she and Alexis walked out the door. "Oh, who am I kidding, can I tell you a secret Alexis?

"Sure." Alexis replied. She sighed in contentment mainly because it was a Friday and she was glad to get out of work so early. Even top interior designers needed their rest.

"I have a hot date with Lance tonight."

"Okay, nothing unusual so far…" Alexis urged her to continue. They were already walking towards the parking lot and towards Alexis' car.

"Well my friends are going to be at the office all night since they have some sort of deadline or whatever crisis, I dunno it's a magazine thing." Taylor shrugged. "But you know what that means right? I've got the empty apartment all to myself, just me Lance and his hot abs….yup, I can see it now-"

Taylor stopped abruptly before slipping inside Alexis' car. Her eyes widened in both shock and disbelief. Alexis noticed this and tried to ask Summer what was wrong. Unfortunately, Taylor seemed deafened and moved closer towards the edge of the street.

Alexis was unaware of what was going on. She followed Taylor's gaze to the other side of the street where she could see a man with curly black hair having a heartfelt embrace with a blonde girl. The man then presented the woman with a small gift box and a letter. Alexis remained puzzled by this. She didn't see any harm in the touching display in front of them.

"Please tell me that isn't…" Taylor softly said, obliviously lost in her trance. "Please tell me that isn't…"

"That isn't who?" Alexis inquired. "Do you…do you know them by any chance?"

"No, no he can't. He _couldn't._" Taylor mumbled, still in complete taken aback.

"Taylor," Alexis placed her hand on her shoulder for support. "He can't what? Do you know him?"

Taylor closed her eyes and nodded. "Well, who is he?"

Taylor finally turned towards her, her eyes still widened and her face as pale as can be.

"Seth Cohen."

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"Sum, I think that it'll take a miracle for us to finish this thing on time."

"Come on, Coop where's you're fighting spirit? We have to nip this in the ass." Summer said in a quite optimistic tone.

Marissa raised her brow.

"It's a metaphor." Summer defended.

"Whatever you say, Sum." Marissa replied as she went back to filing her papers. She rubbed the back of her neck in small circles, trying to ease the pain she was feeling from over-working. "Are you tired at all Sum? My neck is killing me."

"Maybe our new friend Nick can give you a neck massage." Summer said suggestively.

"What?" Marissa looked at her friend. "Nick hates massages."

"Unbelievable, Coop."

"What is?"

"The fact that you literally knew the guy for a couple of hours and you already know this much about him." Summer raised her brow. "What's going between you guys?"

"Nothing!" Marissa said defensively. "We might have talked over lunch, you know the thing people do either to get to know one another or to simply avoid awkward silences."

"All I'm saying Coop, is that you seem pretty bonded with him I mean, in the last three hours you've been able to tell me his favorite color, author, movie, the list goes on and on, you can practically create a Myspace account for him."

"I told you, we were just getting to know each other."

"I think that was a little more than 'getting to know each other'" Summer said. "Getting to know each other is like, interests, things you have in common, stuff like that and not 'my life in a nutshell'."

"It was a long lunch break."

"Hey, it's totally okay if you like him." Summer pasted on some magazine clippings onto the board in front of her. "I mean, he's hot and I already have a boyfriend so I guess you can have him."

Marissa rolled her eyes. "There's nothing going on between us."

"Okay, whatever." Summer said briefly to satisfy her friend. "Denial is the first stage." she muttered under her breath.

"Summer?" A soft voiced perked up from the doorway of the office.

"Oh hey Shannon." Summer greeted her assistant as she entered the room. "Is Melissa calling for us already?"

"No actually you have a call on line one." Shannon replied.

"Could you tell them that I'm busy though? Cause we kind of have our hands full." Summer looked at Marissa who had the same desperation plastered on her face.

"Yeah, I've already told her that but she was pretty persistent." Shannon continued. "She said that it was urgent."

"Alright then." Summer sighed in defeat. "I'll make this quick." Summer looked at Marissa giving her a comforting look as she slipped out of the room.

Shannon followed shyly. "Shannon?" Marissa asked reluctantly. "Who's calling Summer at this hour anyways?"

Shannon replied sheepishly. "Ms. Townsend."

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I dedicated this chapter to Seth and Summer cause I felt like they weren't getting as much action as Ryan and Marissa xD plus, I have a whole plot for them :D but don't worry, both couples will get equal attention ;)

R/R!

den


	15. Chapter 15: The Tattletale

LOVED the reviews guys! In fact, I loved them so much that it inspired me to write the next chapter xD So I felt bad and unsatisfied by the last chapter so I made this chappy longer than usual :D it satisfied me and I hope it'll satisfy you guys as well ;)

As for what Seth is up to, you guys will just have to wait and see ;)

Reviews are very much welcomed! ü

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"Hello?" Summer chimed.

"Summer finally! You're the hardest person to reach _ever_." Taylor's voice boomed from the other end. "Do you _ever _turn your cell phone on?"

"Taylor!" Summer scolded. Her voice transforming drastically from its original state. "What are you calling me here for? I think that I distinctly told you that me and Marissa will be working really late tonight."

"Marissa and I." Taylor corrected her grammar. "You see, you said 'me and Marissa' earlier and-"

"I'M TOO TIRED TO THINK ABOUT MY FUCKING GRAMMAR RIGHT NOW TOWNSEND!" Summer snarled.

Taylor was silenced by Summer's sudden outburst. She knew better than to mess with her rage blackouts…especially when they were stress-filled rage blackouts.

"Oh, okay then Summer. I guess I'll just talk to you later…"

"Wait, wait." Summer said, her voice softening. "I'm sorry I'm being such a bitch, it's just that work's being a real pain in the ass you know?"

"Yeah, well-"

"And, after getting all worked up about meeting Seth's boss and my job is practically hanging on the line with this proposal, I just can't take any more pressure in my life you know?"

"Right…" Taylor was stunned. She was left with absolutely no idea what to do anymore. She was right back where she started, debating on whether she should tell Summer what she had just seen earlier or not.

"So what were you going to tell me that Shannon believes is so urgent?"

"Umm…it can wait until tomorrow I guess." Taylor finally said. "Don't want to cause any more delay on your big business proposal so carry on." Taylor tried to muster a laugh which turned out sounding very awkward.

"Taylor, just spit it out so I can get back in there."

"Sorry Summer, gotta run Lance is waiting for me and you know how impatient he can be when he's really horny."

"Taylor wait-"

"Oops! Looks like Mr. Woggles is peeping out his pants for some fresh air. That's my cue bye!"

"No! Taylor wait-" Summer sighed in defeat as she heard the phone drop on the other end. She slowly placed back the phone onto the receiver and stared at it with both disgust and confusion.

"She named his penis, Mr. Woggles?"

She gave the telephone another look of disgust before hurrying back to the office door.

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Lauren peeped out of her window to catch a glimpse of the sun setting on the shores of Newport. That was one of the things that made this town bearable. That and, a certain blue-eyed guy of course.

The doorbell echoed through the walls of her house, making it absolutely clear that there was someone at the door. She eagerly paced towards it, in full expectation of someone.

"Hey." The deep voice was the first pleasant sound she had heard all day.

"Hey, yourself." She leaned towards her boyfriend to give him a soft kiss.

"So, what do you wanna do today? I feel bad for cancelling lunch yesterday. Seth needed me for some um…guy stuff." Ryan propped comfortably on Lauren's couch as she did the same in the other end.

"Aww sweetie, it was so nice of you to think about me today." She said. "I was going to go do some errands but your offer sounds much better."

"Glad to hear it." Ryan gave her a quick kiss.

"So what exactly did you and Seth do yesterday?"

"Oh you know, he had to go buy something for…his mom." Ryan said quite reluctantly. "He just needed someone's opinion. You know how he gets very indecisive at times."

Lauren raised her brow, suspicion written all over her face. "You're hiding something from me aren't you?"

"You know it used t be cute when you can tell when I'm lying but now, it's creepy."

Lauren laughed lightly at him. "It's part of my charm."

"You've got that right." Ryan leaned towards her for a kiss but Lauren turned away firmly.

"Oh no, no fun for you until you tell me what's going on." Lauren crossed her arms firmly.

"Seth made me promise not to tell anyone."

"But you can tell me, I'm your girlfriend." Lauren pouted.

"Sorry babe, but this is between best friends." Ryan said.

"It's alright," Lauren replied quite confidently. "I'm sure you're going to tell me eventually."

"I may hang out with Seth but that doesn't mean that his habits like his ability to tell on other people's secrets has rubbed off. Ryan pondered hard. "Well, maybe a little bit of sarcasm."

"That may be true, but can Seth do this?" Lauren leaned towards him and kissed him hard which definitely satisfied Ryan's manly instincts. Ryan deepened the kiss and Lauren happily allowed him to. When she was satisfied, Lauren pulled away.

"See what you've been missing?" She said seductively. She leaned in for another kiss which Ryan gladly received. "Too bad you've been busy lately or we could have done more." Lauren took his hand and placed it on her leg. She smiled as she felt his satisfaction from…down there.

She pulled away momentarily as she and Ryan tried to catch their breath. "Where were you the other night by the way?" she asked suddenly.

Ryan's face suddenly dropped. "I was at Marissa's. I went there to apologize for what happened."

Lauren's face was soon wiped out from any hint of happiness. Her eyes darted with anger and her voice boomed, echoing through the walls just like it did with the doorbell earlier.

She stressed every word that came out of her mouth with something than resembled a screech at the last word . "You did _what?!_" She got off of Ryan and stood angrily, towering over him.

"You know what, I think I should do those errands after all." Lauren scoffed as she reached for her bag on the coffee table. Ryan grabbed her hand as he tried to stop her.

"Hold on a second, I just went by there to apologize." Ryan retorted. "I didn't think you would be mad since I was apologizing for you."

"God, Ryan! You're just like my mother always doing things for me, thinking that I can't do things on my own!" Lauren snapped. "I don't need you to apologize for me especially to that _Marissa _of yours!"

"Well you made it perfectly clear that you had no intention of apologizing so as your boyfriend I saved your ass." Ryan raised his voice a little. "And here I thought you would be grateful for it."

"I am grateful, it's just that I can't stand woman!" Lauren roared.

"You don't even _know _her!" Ryan yelled. "You didn't even _try _to get to know her! You just judged her and my relationship with her immediately without even giving it a chance! And at least I told you about hanging out with her instead of lying about it and you finding out later. Ryan lowered his voice. "I asked you to do this one thing for me and you couldn't even do it."

Lauren was silenced by her guilt and her regret. She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Ryan I-"

"Forget it." Ryan rushed towards the door. "I can see myself out."

Ryan slammed the door behind him and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes momentarily before opening them once more. He was soon interrupted by a vibration from his pocket. He reached for his cell phone and saw that Kirsten was calling him. He furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity and flipped it open.

"Hello?" 

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"Hello?"

"Marissa? Sweetie is that you?" Julie asked as she pulled her phone closer to her ear for better hearing.

"Yes, mom it's me." Marissa replied. "Summer's having a total breakdown with the magazine so I'm taking all her calls. We're taking shifts."

"Ah, the big birthday issue." Julie said coolly. 

"How'd you know?" Marissa inquired.

"Let's just say I'm a loyal reader and a very persuasive step-mom." Julie smirked. "Summer's been providing me with every issue and I expect the same from you two when you're done with this. So, carry on, as a reader of this very elite magazine I think it's safe to say that we prefer having the magazine in our hands _on time_."

"Wow, mom thanks for the motivation booster." Marissa laughed lightly. "So why did you call?"

"Ooh!" Julie perked up with excitement. "I almost forgot, Kirsten and Sandy are having a party this weekend another charity event, I presume. And guess who's helping them host it?"

"You."

"Yes, _moi_!" Julie replied. "And they're inviting _everyone_ so you guys should come too."

"I dunno mom. I mean, I haven't seen them since I arrived here, do you think it's too…weird?" Marissa asked.

"Of course not!" Julie said. "Besides this is the perfect way to officially announce your return."

"Announce?" There was a clear discomfort in her voice.

"Fine, 'make it known'" Julie replied. "So what do you say?" 

"I guess, you have a point." Marissa pondered. "Alright, I'll be there and I'll tell Summer and Taylor as well." 

"That would be perfect!" Julie screeched with excitement.

"Alright, bye mom."

"Bye!" Julie hung up and looked up to see that Kirsten had just entered the room. "KIKI! I spoke to Marissa and she just agreed to go to our soiree with Summer and Taylor! Isn't that great?" 

"Yeah it is." Kirsten smiled. "Seth already told me that he'll try to make an appearance." Kirsten sighed. "He's been so busy lately, I don't even know what's going on with him but I hope he at least stays for the catered food he loves so much."

"And Ryan?"

"Oh, I just got off the phone with him and he agreed to go as well." Kirsten smiled. "At least I know one of my boys will be there."

Julie smiled widely. Her face plastered with excitement. "This is going to be so much fun."

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"I gotta go soon," Seth approached. "You sure you're gonna be okay by yourself?"

The blonde girl fidgeted in her chair. She studied the computer screen before looking up at him. "Oh yeah, I'll be fine." She shot him a smile which he returned.

"Sarah, you know that I would stay longer but my girlfriend might be suspicious." Seth said. "I've been MIA for so long that even my best friend's been fishing for what I've been doing." He paused as he looked into her deep gray eyes. "What we've been doing."

"Have you told him?"

"Yeah." Seth said bluntly.

"You think he'll tell anyone?" Sarah asked.

"Nah." Seth assured her. "But then again he does hang out a lot with me, who knows-" 

Sarah threw a pillow to his stomach causing him to moan in pain as his arms flew onto his abdomen. "Ow! I was kidding!" Seth chuckled.

Sarah laughed lightly at him. "Hey, your ass is on the line here not mine." Her voice suddenly softened. "I mean, if your girlfriend finds out about this before you tell her-" 

"I know, I know." Seth said flashing a comforting smile. "I guess I'll have to be extra careful then huh?"

"Yeah." Sarah laughed. "You're a handful you know that Cohen?" 

"Constantly reminded of it. It's part of my charm." Sarah laughed lightly at him. Seth glanced down at his watch and hurried towards the door. "I really gotta go."

"Alright." She walked across the room towards him. "See you tomorrow?"

"You know you will." Seth winked as he made his way to his Range Rover.

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Summer collapsed on the properly furnished couch alongside her best friend. They both tried to catch their breath, utter and complete exhaustion was written on their sullen faces.

Taylor walked into the living room wearing a bathrobe when she saw her two friends sitting on the couch, their limbs spread out hungry for relief.

"Hey guys." She said facing them. She hesitated for a while. "H-How was work?"

Summer and Marissa both glared at her sending her a very clear message.

"That bad huh?" Taylor walked to the kitchen. "You guys want me to make you some hot tea?"

"Nah it's alright, I think I'll just go to bed." Marissa helplessly tried to get off the couch but her arms didn't seem to have enough strength to support her body and she collapsed helplessly onto the couch.

"Whoa, what the hell did you guys do over there? Lift weights?" Taylor propped onto the sofa chair next to them.

"Worse." Summer muttered. "_Way _worse."

"It was worth it though." Marissa mustered a satisfied smile.

"Yeah, now we have the weekend off." Summer suddenly perked up. "What do you guys wanna do?" 

"Actually, Kirsten called a while ago." Marissa said slowly. "She's inviting us to a charity event at the Cohen's this weekend."

"Cool." Taylor perked up. "It'll be like old times, besides now you can officially announce your return in front of everyone in Newport, Marissa."

Marissa's earlier expression dropped. "Yeah, I'll get to see all their processed faces again and then I'll have to explain to each and everyone of them why I left and why I came back just so that they can go sulk in a corner and gossip about me being on crack." She said sarcastically. "Can't wait."

"Well, I think it'll be fun." Taylor said full of excitement. "Don't you Summer?"

"I guess." Summer said. Both Taylor and Marissa gave her questioning looks. "What? These things always end up the same way, it's either someone gets punched or someone gets drunk."

"Well, we can change all that if we really want to." Taylor motivated.

The two girls gave her another death glare which silenced her momentarily.

"Well, at least Coop has an excuse to ask Nick out." Summer smiled mischievously.

"Who's Nick?" Taylor asked.

"Nobody." Marissa glared at Summer. She faked a yawn. "You know what guys, I'm really tired. Can we just talk about this tomorrow?" Marissa scurried down the hall and rushed into her room before any further Nick-related comments could be made.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Summer hollered before Marissa shut the door.

"So who is this guy anyways?" Taylor asked, still unaware of what was going on.

"Some guy from work." Summer replied. "Anyways, I guess I'll just call Seth and ask him about this thing in the morning."

Taylor's usually bright expression dropped. _Seth, shit. _She saw Summer rising from the couch and groggily making her way to the kitchen.

"Um…Summer?"

"Yeah?" Summer asked sleepily.

"I kind of have to tell you something." Taylor said reluctantly.

"Can't it wait until tomorrow Taylor? I'm really tired and-"

"No, it can't cause if we wait until tomorrow I'll have the whole night to debate with myself on whether or not to tell you and I think that I really do need to tell you because I don't want to see you get hurt." Taylor rambled.

"Why would I get hurt?" Summer asked slowly walking towards the living room. "What's going on Taylor?" 

Taylor sighed deeply. "It's about Seth."

Taylor saw her face full of confusion which made it even worse. This wasn't an easy thing to say but she felt like it was her duty as a friend.

"You might wanna sit down for this."

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Dun, dun, dun, DUN! LOL as you guys can already guess, there's a lot of drama in store:P and don't worry, there will be loads more Ryan and Marissa interaction in the next chapter which will be VERY interesting ;)

So start reviewing guys cause I guarantee you the the next two chapters won't disappoint you guys xD

den


	16. Chapter 16: The Payback

**Sorry for the wait guys, schoolwork has been up my ass these past few weeks. **

**I wanna thank you guys cause I've never seen so much support for this fic emerge and I'd like to thank you guys for that sniff LOL anyways, here's the next chappy which by far is the longest….i think, or at least one of the longest chapters in this fic ;) Hope you guys like it! **

**Oh and I know that this fic is set after season 3, therefore nothing in season 4 has happened in this storyline but I decided to add a little bit of season 4 because I added Seth and Ryan's younger sister, Sophie Cohen (Let's face it, she way too damn cute to be left out of this story xD)**

**LOVE your reviews!!! Hope they keep coming ;)**

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"Morning." Marissa waltzed into the kitchen to make some coffee just like she did every other morning. Unusually though, she saw a panic-striken Summer sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, staring deeply into space, like she was contemplating on something really hard. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration and her eyes were bloodshot red which gave away the fact that she didn't get much sleep.

"Uh, Sum?" Marissa took a seat next to her. "Are you okay?"

Summer didn't look at her first, then she slowly turned her head towards her best friend and shook her head. "No." she said softly as she went back to her thoughts.

"Well, do you wanna tell me what's going on?" Marissa took a sip of her coffee.

Summer repeated what she had done earlier. She shook her head. "No."

Marissa put a comforting hand on Summer's shoulder. "Sum, you know you can tell me anything right?"

Before Summer could answer her question Taylor sluggishly walked into the room. Her eye bags were distinct, much more distinct from last night so Marissa figured she didn't get enough sleep as well. "Morning Taylor." Marissa said softly.

"Taylor turned her head towards her sleepily and nodded in acknowledgment. "Morning." She replied in almost a whisper. Her usual perkiness and optimistic nature seemed to have left the room and it was the same for Summer as well.

"Do _you _mind telling me what happened last night or are you going to stare blankly into space like some zombie like Summer?" Marissa asked as Taylor sat down beside her.

Taylor turned to see a sullen Summer and unlike Marissa, she knew exactly why she was in this state. "This is all my fault." Taylor rubbed her forehead in distress. "I shouldn't have told her." 

"You shouldn't have told her what?" Marissa asked, still completely oblivious.

"About him." Summer said suddenly causing both girls to turn towards her. "About Seth. About _everything_."

"Sum, what-"

"It's all his fault!" Summer exclaimed all of a sudden causing both girls to jump in their seats in sudden shock. "He's…He's cheating on me with some blonde bimbo!"

"Here we go again." Taylor sighed.

"Wait, what?" Marissa said still full of shock. "Seth? He can't be cheating on you, he loves you Sum, it must be some sort of misunderstanding."

Summer eyes started to water. "Apparently not." She nudged Taylor to explain.

"I-I saw him yesterday while you guys were at work." Taylor said nervously. "He was with a blonde girl and they were hugging. It looked like they were having a moment."

"Well, maybe their just friends, I mean they didn't make out or anything-" 

"Friends don't give friends freaking gifts and freaking love letters!" Summer exploded in tears all of a sudden. She tried her best not to, but soon she was sobbing and gasping for air.

"That asshole! Now he's ruined my make-up!" Summer cried pertaining to her mascara running down her face. She ran to the kitchen sink and tried desperately to wash it off. Taylor and Marissa said nothing, knowing that it was best to listen to their friend in need.

Summer hovered over the kitchen sink splashing great amounts of water onto her face, trying desperately to wash off the tears that have already stained her face. She breathed deeply and slowly, trying to calm down. After a long and painful silence, she wiped off the last of her tears and hurried back to the kitchen table to get her purse.

"Where are you going?" Marissa asked.

"If it's gonna be like that fine." Summer said, her tears of disappointment and sadness was now replaced with a strong familiar expression of vengeance written all over her face. "Cohen thinks that he can get away with it. If he wants to play it like that then fine." She hurried towards the door. "Let the games begin."

"Where are you going?" It was Taylor's turn to ask.

"To bring down a certain asshole."

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"YOU ASSHOLE!"

The man sat calmly on his seat cushioned with high-quality pillows as the young blonde in front of him raged with complete and utter anger.

"Sorry darl, but there ain't nothin' I can for you now." He smiled a toothy grin giving the girl shivers of disgust as his age lines were starting to show.

"I worked for you for six years and this is how you repay me?! I worked my ass off so you can wallow in money and you're telling me that I can't even get my last paycheck which by the way is LONG overdue."

"Lauren, I assure you, you _will _get your paycheck." He said calmly. "All you have to do is to go through a few more photoshoots and it's a done deal."

"That's what you said last time." She growled.

"Well, this one's for real." He smirked.

"But I _hate _modeling, that's kind of why I quit." Lauren snapped. "Besides, don't you have some teenage brat lined up for the job?" 

"None of them are as good as you, honey." He replied. "You may hate it but you've got talent, and there ain't a lot of those girls who got what you got. Besides didn't you used to love modeling? One day you just came into my office scowling and hollering at everyone like some diva."

"That was the day I quit."

"That was the day I started wondering why." He replied.

Lauren's eyes flashed with a mysterious sadness. man chuckled. "Darl, there ain't nothin' in this world that ain't 'complicated'"

"Whatever Henry, just give me my money and I'll get out of your hair for good."

"As you probably already figured out sweetie, I don't want to just give you your paycheck that easily and get rid of you even if that's what you want me to do." Henry gave her a toothy grin. "Tell ya what, I'll even throw in a few more bucks for one more photo shoot."

Lauren pondered hard. "Like how much?"

"How does five grand sound?"

"Too little to force an ex-model to get back in the business against her will."

Henry chuckled. "You're feisty attitude always did make me laugh, but it's that stubbornness of yer's that made ya quit."

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Here are the only conditions that I can agree to, one: you have to promise that this will be the absolute last time that you will ask me to do this, two: I _will _get paid for no less than ten thousand for this shoot plus my long overdue paycheck and the last but definitely most important condition," Lauren's expression was absolutely serious. "I want to choose the photographer this time."

"I'll think we can do all that darl." Henry assured her. "So are ya in?"

Lauren sighed. "Just _one _last photo shoot?" Henry's mouth curled up in a triumphant smile.

"Just one last time."

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"Come on Ryan, just one more time. Please?"

"No, I am _not _going to that again, it makes me look like an idiot!" Ryan objected.

"But it's so funny when you do it." The little girl pouted. "Please Ryan? Pleaaase?"

"Sophie, I-"

"Please Ryan? Pretty please with loads of sugar on top?" The young girl gave him the best puppy pout she could muster. Six years old and the girl already had the Newport manipulative scheming skills. She promptly tilted her head to the side and placed her hands on her skirt, with her arms outstretched. She topped it off with a pouting lip which made her look very adorable indeed.

"Oh no, not the puppy pout!" Ryan exclaimed. "You know I can't say no to your puppy pouts!"

Sophie giggled triumphantly in amusement.

"Okaaay. But just once." The little girl eagerly clapped in excitement as Ryan picked up the thick black glasses she was holding and wore it over his deep blue eyes. He messed up his hair and finished off his look by spreading out his hands over his ears to look like elephant ears.

"HELLO SOPHIEE!" Ryan said in a high-pitched voice. Sophie giggled at her older brother as he wiggled his ears and playfully rolled his eyes. "Whadya up to?" 

"Nothin'" She replied, still in a fit of laughter as Ryan pranced around the foyer. "What about you?"

"Well I-"

"He's about to explain why he's prancing around like a Sugarplump princess in his own house." A voice said behind them which was followed by a fit of laughter. Both Ryan and Sophie turned around to see a very well-amused Marissa standing in front of them.

"Marissa, hi." Ryan quickly removed the dorky glasses he was wearing. "I um…didn't expect to see you here."

"Yeah well, Kirsten called and she said that she needed help for the party so I came over to help." Marissa said still smiling. "She told me that you were helping out as well but I think you're doing fine on your own."

Sophie giggled at Ryan's embarrassment as her brother's cheeks turned red.

Ryan laughed awkwardly. "I was um…I was just-"

"He was doing Mr. Elephant Head for me!" The little girl freely continued.

Marissa tried her hardest not to laugh as she studied Ryan's face as it turned redder. "Mr Elephant Head?"

"Yeah, it's just something I do to entertain this little misfit." Ryan nudged over to Sophie as the little girl tried to look as innocent as possible. Marissa took a good look at the little girl, she was beautiful. Her dark blonde curls rested right above her shoulders and her fair complexion made her look so much like Kirsten. Her smile and laughter were the most contagious thing about her which would probably amuse most people.

Ryan looked back and forth at the two and realized that they still weren't properly introduced. "Oh, sorry. Marissa this is Sophie." Ryan said. He bent down to face Sophie. "Soph, this is Marissa." Sophie smiled at her which Marissa gladly returned. "She's an old friend."

"Very nice to meet you Sophie." Marissa bent down to meet the little girl. She extended her hand which was grasped by Sophie's small one.

"Nice to meet you too Marissa." she perked up. "And don't listen to Ryan, you don't look old at all."

Marissa laughed lightly and Ryan did the same. "Soph, when I said Marissa was an 'old friend' I didn't mean that she was old I meant that she's been my friend for a very long time."

"Oh." Sophie nodded in realization and her brows furrowed slightly afterwards. "Well, it's not my fault that I can't understand your figures of expression."

"Soph, it's figures of speech and idiomatic expressions." Ryan corrected.

"Well whatever, they're both confusing!" Sophie retorted.

Marissa laughed lightly at the two. She placed her hand on Sophie's shoulder to reassure her. "It's alright Sophie, you look like a smart girl so I'm sure you'll get it soon."

A smile flashed across Sophie's face. "I like you Marissa, you're nice, unlike some people in this room," she glanced accusingly at Ryan who rolled his eyes on her. "And you're really pretty."

"Why, thank you Sophie." Marissa smiled. "You're really pretty too."

"I wanna be as pretty as you when I grow up." Sophie replied. "And I wanna smell as nice as you."

"It's perfume." Marissa replied to Sophie's curiosity towards her scent. "I'm sure your mom has some in her room."

Sophie's eyes widened in excitement as Ryan's widened with panic. "But," Marissa quickly patched up. "You can only wear perfume when you're all grown up."

Sophie's head dropped in disappointment as all wonderful thoughts of perfume were crushed. Marissa was about to comfort the little girl before Ryan stepped in.

"Hey, don't worry about it Soph." Ryan comforted as he patted her back. "You don't need all that just to get people to notice you."

"Really?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah, you'd be too much of a handful." Ryan teased. Sophie playfully slapped his arm.

"Not funny Ryan!" Sophie laughed when Ryan rubbed his arm and scowled in mock hurt. "You're just jealous of me and Marissa because we can smell god anytime we want and you have to spend the rest of your life smelling like construction sites."

"Hey, I will have you know that smelling like construction sites gets me lots of money."

"But you still stink." Sophie laughed.

Ryan turned towards a smiling Marissa for moral support which Marissa wasn't much help with.

"Sorry Ryan but I have to agree with Sophie." Marissa joined Sophie in a fit of laughter.

"And here I thought that you'd be a least bit grateful after defending your youth to my younger sister even if you're age is starting to show." Marissa's mouth dropped as Ryan's formed a playful smirk. "No offense Cooper."

Marissa slapped him playfully on the arm that was untouched by Sophie causing both arms to hurt. Marissa laughed, satisfied with her efforts.

"Haha, Ryan got slapped in the arm twice!" Sophie teased as Ryan rubbed his other arm.

"So that's how it's gonna be like huh?" Ryan said as he attacked both girls by tickling their sides which made all three laugh even more and started causing a commotion.

Kirsten rushed in, having heard the noise from the kitchen. She had a confused, yet panic-stricken face as her eyes finally rested on the three who were laughing like idiots.

"What's going on here?"

The three immediately turned their heads towards Kirsten, smiles still plastered on their faces.

"Oh, nothing Mommy Ryan was just jealous of me and Marissa since we smell good and he smells like fart." Sophie perked up.

"Hey, a moment ago you said that I smelled like construction sites."

"What's the difference?" Sophie bursted into a fit of giggles.

"Another comment like that young lady and I will never do Mr. Elephant head for you again." Ryan threatened mockinlgy.

"Easy." Sophie replied calmly. "I'll just give you another one of my puppy pouts, you know the ones you can't resist."

Sophie turned towards Marissa and signaled her to bend down so she could whisper something to her. "Works every time." Sophie whispered into her ear.

"Okay Sophie, it's time for your afternoon nap." Kirsten smiled as she approached her daughter.

"Mom!" Sophie argued. "Don't say that in front of a visitor it's embarrassing."

Sophie turned to Marissa once more. "She's just kidding Marissa, I'm already six years old, naps are for babies." Marissa smiled as the little girl let out a yawn that she had been trying to avoid.

"It's alright Sophie." Marissa said. "You know, I used to take naps myself when I was your age, I used to hate it as well but I just called it my 'beauty sleep' cause without it, I would look really ugly."

Sophie eyes widened in fear as she tightly grasped Kirsten's hand. "Mommy, let's go take a nap pronto!"

"Oh, so you listen to her but you don't listen to us?" Ryan said.

"That's because she's much prettier than you." Sophie stuck her tongue out.

Ryan placed his hand on his chest in mock hurt. "I'm offended Soph."

"I'm just kidding Ryan." Sophie giggled as Kirsten led her to the stairs.

"Come on Soph, let's leave these two alone so that they could start working on our benefit that I trust them with completely." Kirsten gave the two a stern look and softened it with a smile as she and Sophie disappeared at the top of the stairs.

"Sorry about that, Sophie can be a handful sometimes." Ryan said. "She is after all Seth's younger sister."

"And yours." Marissa corrected.

A small smile passed Ryan's lips. "Yeah."

"Looks like you're doing a good job of being an older brother to her though." Marissa flashed him a warm smile which he returned.

Ryan let out a small laugh. "Yeah well, it's a lot harder than it looks," he continued. "I mean, aside from being Mr. Elephant head." Ryan and Marissa both laughed at the comment.

"Well, maybe you can give her a little preview f how your musical days were like," Marissa's lips pursed into a playful smile. "Snoopy."

"You wouldn't dare." Ryan's eyes widened in fear that Marissa would spill his dirty little secret as Marissa smiled mischievously. "Besides I remember a certain someone who left a rather cute stuffed toy when she left for Greece."

Marissa's eyes widened as the smirk was wiped out of her face. "Share Bear?" Her voice trembling low.

Ryan nodded as an exact replica of Marissa's smirk reappeared on his face.

Marissa's facial features tightened. "You wouldn't."

Ryan threw his head back as he enjoyed a hearty laugh. "Relax Cooper." He reassured. "Share Bear is safe and sound in your mom's place with Kaitlin."

Marissa gave him another playful slap as he winced in pain. "You know," Ryan said as he rubbed his arm. "If I hang out with you and Sophie more often, I dunno what's going to happen to my arm. Turn permantly pink maybe?" he teased.

"Oh please, don't be such a baby Atwood." Marissa teased. "Besides, you'll miss our playful slaps one day."

"Doubt it." Ryan smiled.

Marissa sighed calmly. "You're a really good big brother to her aren't you?"

"I do my best." Ryan saw a smile form on Marissa's face. "I mean, I do as much as I can to visit her when I'm not at work or when I don't have any plans with Lauren."

Marissa's smile slightly dropped. "Has Sophie met her? Lauren, I mean."

Ryan's face stiffened as he spoke softly. "Not yet. But she will soon. I just hope that they would get along."

Marissa stared at her feet as they fidgeted against the marble floor. Ryan took note of this. "Listen, I'm sorry about Lauren's behavior." He started. "She's not usually like that."

"It's okay Ryan, really." Marissa flashed him a comforting smile. "You don't need to keep apologizing for her. Besides, I think I can give her a second chance."

Ryan grinned widely. "Well, I'm glad." He said. "I think that if you guys really get to know each other, you'll be great friends."

Marissa simply smiled. Her expression softened. "You have changed." She said softly.

"In a good way, I hope."

"Definitely." Marissa replied as Ryan smirked at her. "Who would have thought that the broody boy from Chino would end up to e a loving and caring big brother?"

"And who would have thought that the infamous Marissa Cooper would be …" Ryan pondered. "Still infamous?"

Marissa laughed lightly. "The weird part is, even though everything has changed, I kind of like it. And I don't usually like changes."

"Yeah, sort of like a new 'adventure to explore?" Ryan smirked.

Marissa bit her lip and smiled softly at him. "Absolutely." She said. "Makes you wonder what's gonna happen next in Newport's social scene."

"With all of us involved, who knows?"

"Good point." Marissa agreed. "Well, we better start working on this thing because I do know what will happen if we don't."

Ryan nodded. "Kirsten will skin us alive?"

"Or worse, my mom." They both laughed heartily before disappearing out the front door of the Cohen manor, into the orange world that they used to know so well in the past and which future that lies ahead of them, is still unknown.

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"COHEN!"

Summer punched the wooden door impatiently as she stood outside the apartment. She tapped her foot impatiently as she finally heard the door slowly open.

Seth opened the door to find a very unsatisfied Summer standing in front of him. "Summer," he said slowly. "I didn't think you were coming over."

"Well you know me, full of surprises. You weren't expecting anyone," Summer's voice sounded threatening. As she gave him the meanest glare she could muster. "Were you?"

"No, no of course not." Seth quickly retaliated. "Just my sweet, attractive girlfriend."

Seth leaned in for a kiss while Summer deprived him of it as she let herself in Seth's apartment, leaving Seth in the doorway.

"So," Summer casually looked around. "I thought you were swamped at the office with work." Summer stopped to face a confused Seth. "And yet you're here."

Seth gulped at the sight of Summer's accusing expression. "I was busy." Seth stuttered. "I-I mean, I _am _busy it's just that my boss decided to let me take the day off."

Summer raised her brow. "So where were you yesterday? I called you and it just kept getting your voicemail."

"Oh, I was working late." Seth tried to say coolly. "Sorry babe."

"Sorry huh?" Summer retorted. "You know, 'sorry' doesn't fix a lot of things and a lot of girlfriends would _never _forgive their boyfriends with a simple 'sorry'. But then, lucky for you that you have such a forgiving girlfriend."

"Right, I sure am." Seth laughed nervously.

"And besides I know that you wouldn't do _anything _behind my back." Summer raised her brow. "Right?"

"O-Of course, sweetie."

"Good." Summer said bluntly. She was slyly torturing her boyfriend psychologically for revenge and quite frankly, she was enjoying it.

"Right." Seth approached Summer and leaned in for a kiss. "I would never do anything-"

_You have 13 new messages._

The two jumped at the sound of Seth's voicemail. Summer approached the machine suspiciously.

"13 messages?" Summer asked as she stared at Seth. "Someone's been a busy boy."

"Yeah well, you know how bosses are." Seth said nervously. "Being away from the office doesn't stop them from harassing you about work."

"Well then, let's not keep work waiting." Summer's finger hovered over the button on the machine to playback the messages.

"No!" Seth quickly grasped Summer's hand away from the machine. "I-uh…" Seth stuttered for an excuse as he gazed into Summer's confused expression. "Wanna show you my horse figurines collection, you know how excited I get about porcelain animals." Seth babbled nervously as he dragged Summer across the room. He tried distracting Summer as he led her to his 'figurine collection."

"Cohen, I don't see any porcelain horses." Summer said bluntly.

"Oh, they're there just keep looking." Seth hovered over her to see the blinking light on his answering machine.

"Cohen, there's nothing there!" Summer said impatiently trying to wriggle her way out of Seth's grasp. "Just keep looking, you don't wanna miss them and their cute little hooves!" Seth said tightening his grip.

Summer clutched a bunch of Seth's hair and directed him to look at the display. " I see, NO horse figurines Seth." She said sternly.

"Well, maybe they galloped somewhere." Seth tried to cover up. He took hold of one of the other figurines. "The cute polar bear figurines are cute though, you like them don't you?"

"I gave that to you, two Christmases ago."

Seth looked at the porcelain crafted bear, confused. "Okay you know what, no more figurines for me." Summer headed towards the telephone where the machine was still in sight.

"Summer, seriously, my boss can wait." Seth panicked.

Summer stopped suddenly to face Seth. "I'm starting to think that you're hiding something from me, Seth." Summer raised her brow. "I thought we said no secrets?"

"Well yeah but-"

"Great." Summer said as she turned towards the telephone once again. "Let's hear those messages then."

"NOOO!!!" Seth yelled desperately which caused Summer to turn towards him again in shock.

"Is there some reason why you don't want me to hear those messages?" Summer stared him down. "You're acting insane." She walked off but not too long as she was interrupted by Seth's hollering once again.

"IT'S A MOTION DETECTOR BOMB!!!" Seth said as he rushed to stop his girlfriend. "Alright, I said it already!"

"Cohen, what the hell are you talking about?" Summer said as Seth grasped her arm and dragged her away from the machine.

"Summer, as your loving and protective boyfriend I'm afraid I will have to protect you from going any closer-"

"Okay, you know what I've had enough of this crap." Summer jabbed her elbow into Seth's chest causing him to retreat his tight grip on her to rub the affected spot.

"I've had it." Summer raced towards the phone, her hand hovered over the machine, only inches away.

"SUM!!!"

Summer and Seth both shot their heads towards the doorway where they found an exhausted Marissa panting and out of breath.

"MARISSA, THANK GOD!!!" Seth saw Summer's suspicious expression and lowered his voice. "Uh, I mean, Hey Coop"

"Seth, I told you not to call me Coop." Marissa said as she trudged past the door. She walked over to Summer. "We-have-to-go." She said, in single deep breaths. "Now."

"What? Why?" Summer protested as Seth quietly rejoiced.

"Long-" Marissa panted. "Story."

Summer sighed as she grabbed her purse and took one last look at the blinking machine and then to Seth. "This isn't over Cohen."

"Good to know." Seth smiled smugly as he watched Summer and Marissa disappear out the door. He let his fingers prance along the buttons of the machine hesitantly before pressing the playback button.

_Hey Seth, it's Sarah…_

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"Hello?"

"Nick, thank god." Henry boomed from the other line. "Where have ya been these past few days? I've been tryin' to call ya."

"Yeah sorry, it's just that this new job's been wild you know." Nick smiled.

"Ah, yes the new hotshot gig ya got over there with the fashion magazine eh?"

"Yeah, it's turning out to be really great." Nick saw Marissa and Summer walk in just then and smiled as Marissa waved at him and as he waved back. "Really great."

"Well, I hope it ain't too great for you to forget our little agreement."

"Of course not, Henry." Nick said. "You know how much I like working with you guys."

"It's good to hear ya say that 'cause I just convinced one of our 'retired' models to come back for another shoot and I think that you would be the perfect photographer for the shoot."

"This isn't one of your divas is it?"

"Oh no, she's a one of a kind gal." Henry said. "You'll love her."

"Alright then," Nick said. "You still want me to cover the big Cohen event happening this weekend?"

"Oh, definitely." Henry exclaimed. "It's gonna be the talk of the town and I want every second of it documented. And if we're lucky we might even get to take a picture alongside the Cohens themselves."

Nick laughed. "Alright see you Saturday then."

"See ya Saturday, it's gonna be one hell of a night."

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**The big bash is up next so pls. review! ;)**

**den**


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